


Little Jack

by PlayfulMay



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:54:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6613219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlayfulMay/pseuds/PlayfulMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phryne comes to know Jack's son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what exactly made me decide to write this, but I just love the idea of this story.

"Hello," Phryne Fisher whispered to the terrified child who simply blinked in her direction. "Are you Henry? Jack Robinson's boy?"

Phryne was reaching out to the three-year-old, but he was curled up in the large cement pipe - fearful of everything unfamiliar after the night he'd spent escaping kidnappers.

"I'm Miss Fisher," Phryne said gently, keeping special note of the child's posture as she spoke. "And I knew your father once."

The child didn't speak then, but was obviously curious with large, blinking eyes so Phryne continued.

"Him and I were partners ... and I would love to bring you back to him. I've travelled a very long way to find you, Young Man."

The little boy smiled, and Phryne melted at the similarities of that face. The face shape was the same as as Jack Robinson's, although the little boy's cheeks were healthily plump for a small child. Phryne reached her hand out again and motioned for the child to come closer.

"Come on ... let's not sit in this gutter all night."

"H-how ... did you know ... How do you know Daddy?"

Phryne smiled at the boy's distrust of strangers. Smart child. "I knew your daddy because we worked together for a very long time. Years, in fact."

Then suddenly, the boy's eyes brightened: "Are you the big bad lady?"

Phryne laughed for a moment, tightening her lips for the sake of her answer: "Yes ... yes, that's probably me."

"Do you know Mommy?" The boy asked, almost sad then.

"I don't, no. What's her name?"

"Mommy."

Phryne grinned at her lack of experience with small children, and the fact that she was not about to relent and give the job of corralling the boy to anyone else. It felt like it was her personal duty to see to him.

"I see," she said simply. crouching down a little smaller to try not to intimidate the muddy child. She sighed when she noted just how dirty he looked. "I know your daddy has been looking for you all day, and that he will just be over the moon to see you again."

Slowly the boy inched forward, and Phryne could see how tired her looked. She couldn't help but reach out again to the child that reminded her of both herself and Jack Robinson. How that was possible without having been present in the child's upbringing, she didn't know. "You must be cold and tired, Dear Thing."

The little blond boy - _was he blond? _\- Slowly crouched a little closer, but quickly paused again with reflection that Phryne hadn't known to be common in small children.__

__"You did the dance fans?"_ _

__Phryne could hardly control her amusement and her own wonder for his knowledge of that, but she managed to do it only by sheer will. She licked her lips thoughtfully and tried to imagine how she might explain the feat to a child: "Yes. It's ... a special dance."_ _

__"You dance?" the boy asked curiously, and Phryne thought she understood the question. It must have come out in an argument Jack had with his ex-wife - that PHRYNE had been the one dancing._ _

__"I do sometimes. Do YOU dance, Henry?"_ _

__"How d'you know my name?"_ _

__Phryne smiled, and he seemed to accept her kindness at face value. "Because I've heard all about the case of your abduction. And I learned all about you and your father. And that's how I know where to take you."_ _

__"Will the police guys come?" he asked, moving a little closer, pouting his lips in a way that warmed Phryne's heart. Jack's young son, making such a face. She melted._ _

__"I've had my driver go for help, so they should be here any moment. Will you at least come out of that tunnel? It might be best for you not to feel as though you're trapped."_ _

__It took him another minute yet to carefully crawl out as if he thought she might lunge after him for some reason, but once he was finally out, he seemed to perk up. Phryne gestured to the hill behind her with the darkness dimming the view. "That way is the road, Young Man. Would you like me to take you to see your father?"_ _

__The look then on Henry's face made Phryne want to cry. It looked as though he was dying to scream out for the help, but worried to take it. He was Jack's son, after all._ _

__"Will Daddy come get me?" the boy asked, and Phryne stretched out her hand - sinking to her knees only to dirty her designer outfit of lace and silk. She gently held the small hand when Henry reached back to her at last, and was careful not to frighten him._ _

__"Your daddy will be the first person to meet us up on top of that hill, I'm sure," Phryne tried teasing, her eyes brimming with tears at the fear of the poor child before her. She had always had a soft spot for children in horrible situations. And Jack's child ... she forced herself to breathe deeply. "So what do you say I help you up that hill?"_ _

__Henry looked up to the hill and suddenly seemed to look as tired as he must have been. Phryne knew she had woken him up talking to him from his secret hiding place, but his body looked to be calling him back to sleep even as he walked - the two of them hand-in-hand._ _

__"Daddy will be mad at me ..."_ _

__"That's funny - I was thinking just the opposite. I think he'll only be happy that you got away. And impressed that you found a safe spot to hide. How you managed to get so far from those criminals is beyond me."_ _

__The grip of his small fingers tightened around Phryne's pinky and ring finger, and she looked up to the hill with a pause. Henry looked up with fatigue at the hill, and leaned against the lady's leg. He thought about his father and mother and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he was being drawn up into warm arms, and immediately relaxed to the familiar sensation of protection - his head lolling on the steady shoulder._ _

__Phryne was still making her way up the top of the steep hill with the child very carefully tucked in at her side when she heard the roaring of vehicles. Henry moved against her just slightly and she paused so she wouldn't lose her grip. She had kicked off her shoes minutes ago and was climbing quite nicely in bare feet, but still worried about the possibility of slipping along the top of the slope._ _

__She was thankfully just pulling them over the top when the first vehicle practically screeched to a halt and a familiar voice ripped through the night air._ _

__"HENRY!"_ _

__Phryne had her face tucked with the little boy's arms around her neck when she heard the call, lifting her face to that voice. The voice she had missed for so long. The man she hadn't seen in years._ _

__Jack was running over, but even though he was in a frenzy to see his child again, he couldn't help notice who was carrying his child. Was that ...?_ _

__The unmistakable white pants and blouse stained with grass and mud told him it was. Only Phryne Fisher would think to wear such elegance while on a case, and only Phryne Fisher would soil the expensive clothing without a thought._ _

__Jack rushed to the sight of the woman and child - adrenaline racing - as he took his little baby in his arms and held the boy to his chest with a deep, relieved exhale._ _

__"Henry ..." he whispered, the little boy waking but exhausted in his arms. Wriggling to see his face. Jack was quick to shimmy out of his jacket to drape it over his son's back. "My boy ..."_ _

__Phryne watched the reunion with tears in her eyes as well, seeing the tiny hands reach up to Jack's face to trace the lines she had always admired. Each of Jack's smiles had carved those lines. Every troubled thought had built him into the thoughtful man he had become._ _

__"Thank you," she heard Jack whispering, squeezing his child again with others rushing to the scene. "Thank you ... thank you ... thank you ..."_ _

__It sounded like a mantra to Phryne who stood just watching until Jack had taken the time he needed to reunite with his son. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her hands trying to warm her cooling arms. It was a terribly cool night and she had also abandoned her coat at the bottom of that treacherous hill._ _

__"How did you find him?" Jack finally asked, sending the men away as the kidnappers were already in police custody. He stared over at Phryne, only just then realizing how fondly she'd been watching him. And when he watched her hands squeezing at his arms, he felt awful. She must have been cold. "Will you ..." But the question died on his lips. It had been so long since they'd seen each other. He couldn't simply ask her back to his house. They hardly knew each other anymore._ _

__When Phryne softly reached her hand out to his forearm and whispered yes, Jack was filled with a sudden hopefulness at the caring support he'd so desperately needed. Perhaps all was not lost._ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack takes his son home, and Phryne is along for the ride.

Phryne was so quiet during the car ride that Jack worried. He drove the three of them off from the scene toward the city with a wayward glance to the woman at his side. She wasn't sleepy. She was just quiet, and that was not the Phryne Fisher he remembered.

Jack gripped a little tighter at the wheel and forced his shoulders to loosen. He had found himself to be impossibly tense since his wife left, but he reminded himself that Henry had been found and that was all that really mattered. His little boy was safely sleeping in the back seat - out of harm's way.

There were so many discussions Jack could have started - that Phryne could have started - on the drive, but none were approached. Instead, Jack asked quite simply: "Are you ... staying somewhere in town?"

"No, I just flew in."

He cast a glance at her and blinked. The driver who had gone for help was some young stranger, so where were her things? A part of Jack felt disappointed in himself if she had just flown in that day and found Henry with such ease. He forced his shoulders to relax again, feeling down about all that had transpired between them.

Those had been the clothes she wore on her flight in, he deduced. Sighing again. Phryne Fisher had come to his rescue yet again, solving crime as if it were a child's game.

"You ... did all this just for my boy?" Jack inquired, and Phryne felt crushed by the question. Was he thinking that she was looking for something in return?

"Yes, I did." Phryne settled in against the seat, staring out the window. "He's your son, Jack."

That voice calling his name. Jack shivered.

"Daddy?" the little boy sleepily groaned, shifting in his sleep to the name he had kept close to his heart all day. 'My daddy is Jack Robinson' - it was a phrase he had learned to say as soon as he was able, in case he was ever lost. He had run the phrase over in his mind as he waited for help that night.

"You're safe now - it's alright," Jack said in the softest voice Phryne could imagine, reaching one hand back to touch Henry's leg, hanging just off the seat. Jack seemed rather talented at relaxing his son back to sleep.

Phryne stayed quiet for the rest of the ride back for Henry's sake, actively curling in against the seat to get some shut-eye herself. It had been a long flight and an even longer day. But Henry was safe, and for that she allowed herself to rest.

She awoke later with an almost uncomfortably wonderful and familiar sensation. Jack's hands. Phryne blinked open her eyes groggily, realizing just how tired she'd been only to see Jack staring down at her with the little boy sleeping on his shoulder. Why did Jack have to look so charming with a babe-in-arms?

"It's late and you don't don't look fit to find yourself a place to sleep."

When Phryne looked like she was about to take offence, Jack's eyes softened and he offered her the hand that had been touching her shoulder.

"Please ... it's the least I can do after you brought him back to me."

What's the least he could do? But she was too tired to even imagine such answers or to seriously take offence - if there was offence to take. She felt the ache of her muscles and the deep desire for sleep, and nodded. She took his hand without a thought, and was guided into the house.

They walked together up the walk to a very quaint little house of which Phryne did not analyze but simply navigated so as not to stumble over. How many hours had she been consecutively awake? She rubbed her eyes once Jack had let her in, and smiled at the symmetry when Henry was shifting and doing the same on Jack's shoulder.

"I'm going to bathe him. Help yourself to some food. Do you ..." Jack cleared his throat. "Do you remember where to find everything?"

Phryne nodded.

When Jack disappeared down the hall with the three-year-old in his arms, Phryne looked around with tired eyes and smiled sadly. It was the same house, with most things tucked into place just as she had remembered. It was the same house she had seen for the first time after returning from a trip to London.

She dragged herself to the kitchen and pulled a few snacks from the cupboards, leaning against the counter. She might have even tried to rub some of the stains from her clothes, but she knew they were a lost cause, so she didn't bother. She would have stripped, but that would further complicated the situation.

Exhausted and distraught with no more appetite, Phryne looked down to the mess of her clothes, and took pity on Jack's furniture - opting to drop her head in her hands as she stood.

It was a pose that worried Jack immensely as he re-entered the living area after having put his tired son to bed. He was concerned for Phryne's well-being. Certainly things had ended long ago between them, but that didn't mean he was indifferent toward her.

"It looks like you might appreciate a bath, too?"

Phryne lifted her tired head but couldn't muster a smile. She just stared at him.

Jack looked down at his socks: "I have some clothes I could lend you."

_But they'll all smell like you _, Phryne thought - unwilling to speak the words. Since hearing that she could never be what Jack wanted, she had felt the need to distance herself from him. Neither were willing to compromise enough to make any go of a real relationship, and that was what Jack wanted with her. Phryne had always preferred a more open concept to romance.__

__"They're Anna's," Jack finished, resting his hands on his hips to see some interest there behind Phryne's red eyes._ _

__"Is she Henry's mother?"_ _

__Jack nodded._ _

__"Well where in the hell is she in all of this? The poor boy's gone missing and she's kicking up her heels?"_ _

__Jack had to smile at the feistiness in Phryne's voice. The protection she lent to a child she hadn't even met before that evening. Phryne Fisher - children's advocate. Jack wiped his hand over his mouth to keep from grinning. "She's ... a capable mother." He took another few steps over to Phryne, regarding her with companionable affection. "She's out of town at the moment, seeing to a family emergency. She hasn't heard about any of this yet. She's still visiting with her family, and I haven't been able to contact them. The family who hates me."_ _

__"Because of me?" Phryne blurted, not altogether wrong._ _

__"Because of the divorce."_ _

__Phryne sighed, her anger giving way to her tender respect for the man she once loved very deeply. "I'm sorry Jack. I thought Anna and you were so happy ... what went wrong?"_ _

__"I think that's a conversation for another day."_ _

__Phryne sighed and nodded, rotating her neck and shoulders for a moment before gesturing to the door. "Will you call me a cab, Jack?"_ _

__"Why?"_ _

__"Because after everything ... I want to be your friend, and ... I rushed things in the first place. All that time ago. And this ... isn't a very good idea. My being here."_ _

__"Phryne-"_ _

__"People will talk again, Jack."_ _

__His heart ached that she knew about all that. Of course she had known. He hung his head. "I don't care about all that anymore."_ _

__"You have Henry to consider now."_ _

__He sighed again, but picked his head up and just looked at her. There stood the strongest woman he knew - independent, beautiful, and now somehow maternal? Jack felt himself weakening to the pulse she always sent through him when she was around. And yet they still had so much to talk about. Perhaps her leaving was best._ _

__"Not a cab ... Isn't there someone I can call for you?" he asked delicately._ _

__Phryne felt as though her legs were so sore they might give out, but she stood somehow and shifted her weight so as to evenly distribute the pain. "Mac ... she knows I'm coming, but she wasn't sure when. I know she'd make some room for me."_ _

__Jack nodded and went straight to the phone. He could tell Phryne was being very respectful of his things, and any dallying on his part would have been cruel - she needed to sit. To rest._ _

__When Jack came back and assured her Mac was on her way, Phryne thanked him and headed for the door._ _

__"What're you doing?" Jack called quietly, following after her to the door. "I only just called her. She'll be fifteen minutes at least."_ _

__"I'd rather wait outside, if you don't mind."_ _

__Before Jack could talk her into staying, she was out the door. The days in which he would have held her by the arm and pulled her back against him were over. He no longer had any right or sway over her in that sense. He could only watch her saunter out sleepily to the small garden in front of the house and plop herself down on the grass in the dark. Looking the part of a slain victim in some case or other. Jack closed the door at that very thought, glancing out at her through the window._ _

__When he saw Mac's car pull up, Jack watched - tucked almost completely out of sight by the set-up of his couch - while the good doctor hurried out of her car and whispered something humorously to the outstretched woman in white._ _

__He couldn't help but be fascinated by the closest platonic friendship he had ever seen._ _

__It was so dark outside, Mac almost hadn't seen her - the fantastic Phryne Fisher, sprawled out on the lawn._ _

__"Well well. If it isn't the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher," Mac whispered, leaning over to see Phryne wake up and smile at her. And from the looks of it, the smile was a long time coming._ _

__"Mac ... it's so good to see you." Phryne definitely didn't sound like herself, and for that, Mac inserted a particularly awful tease._ _

__"Wanna make him jealous?"_ _

__Phryne laughed weakly, as she had always teased Mac about making love to her. Mac had never reciprocated the joke until then, and the timing was something Phryne found utterly hilarious. "I think a hand up will be fine, thanks."_ _

__Mac did as Phryne requested and helped her up. She couldn't help but balk at the state of Phryne's clothes. "Jack said you found Henry ... but where in the hell was that little boy hiding?" She chuckled as she swept off grass from her friend's pants, laughing as she helped the lady detective to the car._ _

__"He was pretty filthy, too. But I just ... the thought of that little boy spending the night out there ... terrified ..."_ _

__Mac understood. It was too much like Janey. It was too much like a great many things Phryne had seen in the past - injustices. Phryne had always taken great pleasure in righting those wrongs._ _

__"I know," Mac said, putting her arm around Phryne's shoulder. "I know it is."_ _

__"Can I have a bath?" Phryne asked tiredly, allowing Mac to support her as she walked. "And possibly borrow some clothes?"_ _

__"Of course you can," Mac smiled, letting Phryne into the passenger side of her car while Jack watched from the window, staring after the woman he had lost so long ago._ _

__Phryne Fisher. Jack closed his eyes as they drove off, and sighed against the couch, replaying that awful memory in his mind. He inhaled the comforting smell of his own home as his mind rushed back to the moment that had ended everything between him and Miss Fisher. It was a bitter sweet memory that had led to his suspension from the station, and had him re-thinking the addictive energy they created together._ _

__He might have been able to smile if he hadn't known how hurt Phryne had also been over the incident. His reaction. Their exchanges to follow._ _

__Jack dropped his head against the back of the couch, and drifted to sleep with his torso twisted and uncomfortable._ _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phryne visits with Mac.

Mac watched in adoration as her long-time friend sank down into her favourite chair and drained the remainder of the alcohol in her glass. Straight whiskey, was it? Phryne Fisher had never looked so perfect as she did then: damp hair from her bath, no make-up, and a long, thick robe covering her from accidentally prying eyes. Mac wanted to laugh that she had only seen her lovers in that robe, and there sat the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher - pouting over her man troubles in it.

"Might wanna slow down, there," Mac chuckled, setting down her own glass to lead by example. She sat watching Phryne as the exhausted woman reluctantly did as she was asked and didn't reach for another refill.

"Mac ... this is all such a mess."

"And so are you," she teased, distracting herself from the image Phryne made. Beautiful in her imperfections.

"Thanks," Phryne teased back, wrapping her arms around herself to cuddle into the smaller couch, trying to find some warmth. "It feels late."

"It is," Mac lied, lifting from her seat to offer Phryne her hand. "Come on - off to bed."

"Can't I just sleep here? I'm getting warm."

"No," Mac chuckled, "And you need to change into pyjamas. The last thing I need is to see you unwrapped by morning."

Phryne smiled at the idea of such a thing, understanding Mac's perspective. "Alright. But I get to find something warm."

"Everything I own is warm. Unlike that damned lingerie YOU wear to bed."

Phryne laughed as Mac led her by the shoulders to her bedroom. It even might have been difficult to ignore the sexual implications if Phryne hadn't been so completely drained of her usual energy.

Phryne didn't even give a comeback. She simply allowed herself to be led, and almost dropped onto the bed once they reached Mac's room.

"No no," Mac laughed, collecting Phryne in her left arm as she brought them both over her dresser and rummaged through the second drawer. "Alright, I have this and-" She cut herself off when she saw Phryne too tired to care. "Take these."

Phryne did, mechanically.

Mac sighed at the sad image of her usually-vibrant friend, helping her to sit along the bed. "We'll talk in the morning, alright?"

"I'll get your pillow wet," Phryne mumbled, and Mac couldn't help but chuckle and kiss the top of Phryne's damp hair.

"I think I'll cope."

With that, Mac was gone to pour herself another drink only to be called back minutes later. Phryne's voice had gone raspy, and she already sounded half-asleep.

"You rang?" Mac smirked, poking her head in the door to see Phryne already dressed and cuddled under the covers.

"Mac ... I don't wanna be alone."

The tears in Phryne's eyes broke Mac's heart. It was a look that told Mac her friend had very possibly felt alone all the time she'd been away.

"Alright," Mac answered, unable to deny her heartbroken friend, moving into the dark room. "I have to change."

Phryne pulled the covers over her head and tried to keep warm with her teeth chattering at the chill she'd sustained earlier that evening. She laid there trying to forget how cold she was until Mac slipped in on the other side of the bed and Phryne felt a cool draft over her legs.

Mac was just settling into the bed when she felt Phryne tuck in against her side - cold feet pressed against her leg.

"Christ!" Mac gasped, laughing when Phryne drew her feet away again, murmuring apologies.

"Jack always hated my cold feet, too."

"Mind not comparing me to your lover?"

Phryne smiled from under the covers, closing her eyes to the familiar smell of the friend she had written to throughout the years she'd been gone. Being in Mac's bed wasn't exactly what she had imagined upon her arrival, but it had its comforts. It also had its awkwardness of course, given Mac's inclination toward the fairer sex.

"Mac ...?"

"Yeah?"

"... I really loved him."

Mac blinked in the dark and turned her head to the little lump under her sheets and smiled. Phryne had always had that effect on her. "You say that like it's a thing of the past."

"It probably is."

Mac inhaled and looked up to her ceiling, cradling the back of her head with interlocking fingers to let out the heavy sigh: "I don't know if that's true."

"He got married, Mac."

"They're divorced."

Phryne wanted to cry but she held it in, curling up as best she could by herself. "They have a child together ..."

"Humans reproduce," Mac remarked a little too dryly for Phryne's liking. "It's a fact of life, not a romantic gesture."

And then Phryne's eyes blinked open. Had Henry been accidental? Would the timing of their wedding have supported that? Suddenly Phryne was wracked with interest.

Sensing the barrage of questions to come, Mac sighed again and decided to escape the inevitable the only way she knew how - she cuddled Phryne to sleep.

Mac's warmth both surprised and soothed Phryne with arms slipping around her to hold and comfort her. It had been so long since anyone had held her that way. The gesture was so caring in fact that Phryne felt tears come, but she pushed them away just as quickly, making herself even smaller in Mac's arms.

"Give me the feet," Mac groaned, bringing a smile to Phryne's sad lips as she did what her doctor friend asked and heard another hiss of discomfort at her back. Phryne chuckled and Mac sighed again. "You're enjoying this too much."

Phryne was overcome by the effect of the warm body at her back, eyes closing of their own volition. "I'm ... tired."

"I know. Go to sleep."

It was the last thing Phryne heard before she fell into a deep and recovering sleep. It was also the first thing Phryne remembered as she opened her eyes to a very tense body under her limbs. Wait - under her limbs?

"Mmm," Phryne groaned groggily, interrupting herself when her arm grazed something she was unused to in her bed partners - breasts. She chuckled against Mac's shoulder and thankfully pulled her arm back. "Sorry."

"Mind returning the offending leg to your side of the bed too?"

"Is it offending?" Phryne teased, still waking when Mac slipped out from under her with a shake of her head.

"I'm gonna make some breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"It's so early," Phryne guessed, judging by the light coming in from the middle of the drapes.

"Earlier than you're used to I imagine," Mac smirked, readying a meal for them while Phryne drifted off again. She was chuckling to herself when she remembered that Phryne's flight in had probably offset her for time in general. So she let Phryne sleep in a while longer before she woke her.

Phryne awoke to a disturbance against her legs. Was someone nudging her? She inhaled deeply and noticed first of all that the room smelled of eggs. She smiled and stretched when she noticed that Mac was sitting on the other side of the bed with her - plate and fork in-hand.

"Eggs," Phryne smiled, yawning and messing her hair with both hands. "Give me some."

Mac chuckled as she took another bite of her food, crossing her ankles. "Forgotten your manners, have you?"

"Pleeease?" Phryne pleaded so adorably, Mac inwardly cursed her reminder. The image of a woman all tangled up in her sheets - begging - was not the image she wanted when it came to her friend Phryne.

"Yeah yeah," she dismissed, handing over her plate. "Take the eggs."

"Sweet sweet food," Phryne laughed quietly, still waking up as she drew herself up to sit beside Mac and rested her head on the strong shoulder to her left.

"No spilling eggs in my bed."

Phryne sat up with good humor and ate the eggs so quickly Mac made her another breakfast to complement the first. They ate the second meal in Mac's kitchen, where Phryne had woken enough to have a conversation.

"I think ... I'm going to check on Henry," Phryne said, finally finished shovelling food into her mouth long enough to piece together a full sentence.

Mac clasped her hands behind her head and yawned, stretching against the chair only to cast her eyes over to Phryne and then down at the table. "Do you think that's wise?"

"I think that little boy must be horribly shaken."

"And Jack too."

Phryne nodded. "Jack too."

"You do see where I'm going with this?"

"Mac ... I don't want to start anything. That's what rattled things between Jack and I the first time around. I just ... I want to ... be his friend."

"Well, judging by last night, I'd say perhaps 'friend' is too close a term."

Phryne chuckled that they'd just spent the night together, throwing the crust from her bread across the table at Mac who caught it and ate it all the same.

"You need to be careful, you know."

It was a warning Phryne knew to heed very seriously. When she and Jack had first started seeing each other, they had hardly been able to keep their hands off one another. After the very slow-burning fire began to crackle, there had been no stopping it. It had taken over them both and led to complications.

"I know."

"He has that little boy now," Mac reminded, stealing another piece of Phryne's bread as the lady detective was too busy staring off at the counter. "And that will change things too."

"Such a sweet little boy ..."

"Yes, he is. Healthy and strong, but a child nonetheless."

Phryne smiled at the thought of the adorable child and then frowned. "But his mother is-"

"Not a conversation I want to have this morning."

Phryne looked curiously over to Mac who was averting eye contact, and deduced things had grown rather complicated indeed. Just what had happened in her time away? Three years was an awfully long time to be gone.

"Very well," Phryne answered, standing in the loose pyjamas that did nothing to flatter her figure. "I think I'd better go out to shop if I'm going to stay for a while longer in town. Arrange a proper place for me to stay. Get my affairs in order."

"I don't have any frilly numbers to lend you," Mac quipped, laughing outright when Phryne moved to strike a model's pose in the over-sized flannel ensemble.

"I make do with what I have."

Mac admired Phryne for a moment, considering that statement altogether true. From Phryne's past as a struggling child to her present as a complicated woman of means, Phryne always made do. So Mac helped her to pick out a lovely suit from her closet, and saw her enthusiastic friend out with a hug.

"Just beware that people will comment," Mac warned her, smiling when both of Phryne's arms looped around her neck and squeezed for all they time she'd missed her dear friend over the years.

"Yes, but I'm quite capable of telling others off," Phryne said, drawing back to touch Mac's cheek. "Dear Mac ... I've been away too long. Sorry I've been gone."

"It's quite alright. I'm not your mess to keep," Mac teased, watching after her friend.

Phryne sauntered down the hall, thinking of a special someone's mess she DID consider hers to keep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Henry run into Phryne while shopping.

Jack was watching his son trail alongside him when the little boy stopped and pointed up ahead. Jack looked up and surprise slowly registered on his face.

"Daddy."

Jack put his hand over his son's upper back when he felt a little tug on the leg of his pants. Henry was always clingy when he was uncertain.

Phryne had been window shopping when she continued down the walkway to see Jack and his small son staring in her direction. It took great control to keep from laughing at the adorable sight, sauntering over in the glory of Mac's masculine attire.

"Well well," she smile, despite any awkwardness that sat between her and Jack. "If it isn't my two favorite men."

Henry smiled because he knew he wasn't yet a man, and Jack smiled because Phryne's confidence was a force in and of itself. Jack smiled: "And if it isn't ... _you _... in _that _."____

____Phryne in a man's tailored suit was a sight indeed. Jack cleared his throat and watched Phryne's eyes drop to the child at his side._ _ _ _

____"Are you still feeling shy, Little Man?" Phryne smiled, not talking to Henry as if he were a baby, but reaching out her hand as if he were a friend. "I would really like some help picking out a dress for dinner with an old friend."_ _ _ _

____Henry blinked at her and looked up at his father for permission._ _ _ _

____Jack's eyes had sharpened at the term, unknowing of what exactly Phryne meant._ _ _ _

____"Nothing like that, I assure you," Phryne answered honestly to the man she hadn't seen in far too long. "I just don't have a wardrobe here, and I'd really like to discuss a few things ... with _you _... over dinner. If I'm going to stay in Melbourne a while-"___ _ _ _

______Jack interrupted despite intentions to remain indifferent: "You're staying?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______"For a while," Phryne nodded. "And if it's alright with you, Mr. Robinson ... I'd like Henry's help shopping."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack went weak at the very idea of Phryne bonding with his strangely-reserved three-year-old. He knew that if anyone could bring out Henry's sense of childish joy since the divorce, it would be Phryne Fisher. But he was hesitant to see her interacting so easily with the son he hadn't been able to liven himself. "I ... I don't know. He doesn't really like to shop."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Would you like to help me find a dress?" Phryne asked the child instead of his father. "I'll bet you even know your father's favorite color."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Henry smiled at her, but wasn't about to let go of his father's pant leg._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Oh alright," Phryne smirked, sauntering into the shop at her side. "I guess I'll never know what it is then ..."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack watched the curiosity of his son flare as the child leaned closer to the doorway of the shop, taking in the dresses in the windows. Jack rolled his eyes and gestured for his son to follow after her._ _ _ _ _ _

______"I like this color," Phryne grinned, lifting the hem of a dress on a carved wooden hanger. It flowed nicely and was covered with sparkles. "What do you think?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______Judging by the shock in Henry's eyes, he hadn't seen many pieces quite as glittered in his short life. Phryne chuckled and took the hanger in her hands, holding it up to her frame and looking down to her helper. "Well? What do you think?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______Henry stood with his little hands pulling at the sides of his shirt nervously, smiling at the shiny apparel all around him. He felt as if he were at a carnival._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Maybe you're right Jack," Phryne said gently, replacing the hanger and looking up at the man she used to know with as much strength as she could muster. "Maybe he doesn't like to shop after all. I think I'll go along the back and ... I'll leave you two to your day."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"And supper?" Jack asked with intrigue - had she given up so easily?_ _ _ _ _ _

______"I'll call," she promised, waving to the little boy who was already turned to another aisle of flashy dresses. He was hiding in them and calling his father to come find them when Jack finally tugged his eyes from Phryne's retreating figure._ _ _ _ _ _

______Could one woman have changed so drastically? And just what had Phryne been up to since she'd been gone? Jack had enough to deal with at home that he hadn't really wondered after she'd left, but he wondered then after the way she had withdrawn._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Come here," Jack called, gesturing for Henry to reach up to him. He lifted his boy and smiled at the joy he saw in those bright little cheeks. "You like this place, don't you, Son?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______Henry smiled and clung onto Jack, eyes dashing around the rainbow of colors all around them. The mystery and appeal of a clothing store._ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack rolled his eyes and patted his son's small back as he followed uncertainly after Phryne._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Are you looking for your wife, Sir?" one of the staff asked, gesturing to the back before Jack could answer. "She's just at the back trying on a strapless gown. Would you like me to bring you another seat for your son?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack wasn't quite sure what to say, blinking at her._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Dress," Henry grinned, biting on his finger only to twist around in his father's arms and continue to survey the area with growing interest._ _ _ _ _ _

______"We'll be fine," Jack sighed, approaching with caution as those words swam through his mind: strapless gown. It had been a long while since he'd seen Phryne dressed to impress. He wasn't sure he could handle the shock it might deliver._ _ _ _ _ _

______When they reached the back with the fitting rooms, Jack stopped short at the sight of Phryne exiting the room in a lovely sky blue evening gown - shoulders and part of her chest exposed. Her hair had been combed between her fingers, and the curls of black fell over her eyes as she reached down to gather the material that happened to drag along the ground. When she looked up, they both held their breath._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Blue!" Henry giggled, pointing to the dress. His father had practiced his colors with him many times before, and Henry was always so proud of remembering them._ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack swallowed and reminded himself that breathing was important. "Yes ... yes. It's blue."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Phryne lowered her eyes again when she realized what effect the dress had on Jack. She hadn't meant for him to be watching her try the items on._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Was your husband not meant to see it?" the lady asked, letting herself in to the fitting room area with a bubbly personality. "My apologies. But what a lovely dress! Would you like to have it hemmed?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______"No," Phryne insisted, heading back to the dressing room. "No thank you."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Blue," Henry repeated, prompting the saleswoman to coo at him._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Aww, it looks like your little boy loves it. It's a winner already."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Phryne tried to explain: "No, he's not-"_ _ _ _ _ _

______But the saleswoman continued to interrupt, with which Jack was becoming perturbed. Could she not take a hint? And was Phryne really so frazzled that she couldn't snap a witty remark when she needed?_ _ _ _ _ _

______He let Henry down to defend Phryne when the little boy unexpectedly ran over and started playing with the sequins along the bottom of the dress - distracting everyone. Phryne smiled down at the wonder in the child's eyes, and Jack asked the saleswoman for some time to properly decide._ _ _ _ _ _

______After watching the quiet interaction Phryne was having with his child for some time, Jack intervened and admitted they had better be on their way. He couldn't stand to see her like that. To see her prying words from a little boy who had gone all but silent the last few months. And to do so while sporting a breathtaking dress ..._ _ _ _ _ _

______"But let's do dinner," Jack said as if it weren't as special as he felt it to be. "At my place perhaps, seeing as I won't be able to find a sitter with late notice."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Are you sure?" Phryne asked, standing again to lock eyes with Jack. "Are you sure you'd like to have dinner with me, Jack?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack looked down and took his son's hand. "There are a lot of answers I'd like. I think you'd like some answers, too."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Phryne's eyes glittered back at him. Was he really offering those answers freely to her?_ _ _ _ _ _

______Before Phryne could think to respond, Jack spoke again: "And uh ... maybe not."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Phryne looked down at herself - where he had gestured. She looked up at him again. "Maybe not _what _?"___ _ _ _ _ _

________"It's," Jack paused, clearing his throat. "We have a lot to discuss. Maybe not that dress."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Phryne squinted at him - was he really admitting that he would have a difficult time focusing if she wore that dress? It had been a long while since they'd come together intimately. But the controlled Jack Robinson, asking her not to wear something because he didn't think they'd get through a conversation?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________She smiled at him and waved as Jack walked off with Henry hurrying after him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Perhaps she wouldn't wear that dress to dinner with Jack, but she wasn't about to leave it in the shop, either. An item like that came in handy every now and then._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phryne goes over to Jack's place for some answers.

Questions circulated in Phryne's mind until she was standing on Jack's doorstep later that evening with a bottle of wine and a small toy for Henry. She shifted her shoulders back in the very conservative dress she'd chosen for the occasion - a sun-colored dress that hung just below her knees with a halter fastener that clasped neatly at the back of her neck. It was touched with so many intricate details that she had taken a personal liking to the dress, and believed Jack might appreciate its beauty. He might appreciate that it covered her too, she imagined.

The door quietly opened, and Phryne was holding out the wine just as her eyes fell to the little boy staring up at her. Henry.

When he lifted his hands as if to take the wine from her, Phryne laughed and gave him the toy car instead. "Nice try, Young Man."

When he smirked in his own childish way, Phryne saw a glimpse of his personality that melted her.

"How many times have I told you it's not safe to answer the door on your own?" Jack called, hurrying into the living area to see Phryne looking up at him from under her lashes. He hated when she did that because of its accidental allure. She wasn't even trying. "Phry-" he cleared his throat and invited her inside. "Miss Fisher."

"Jack," Phryne smiled, entering with a cautious step, wanting to laugh at the way Henry inspected the toy with wide eyes and ran off to play with it.

"Off to bed!" Jack called after him, sighing because he felt he hadn't been the father Henry needed. He wasn't able to juggle everything himself all the time.

"Is that why you asked me to come at this hour?" Phryne teased, walking past Jack and into his kitchen. She inhaled sharply as his humble kitchen stored erotic memories she wasn't prepared to entertain. There was the memory of Jack coaxing her tongue from her mouth on one of their first dates and making love to her on the countertop on one of their last. Phryne sighed, stopping short at the surge of images that ended with a warm hand on her shoulder.

"Phryne?" When she spun around, Jack continued: "I said I thought it would be best if we could have some ... privacy. To talk."

"Well if he's any bit as good as father at detecting, I'd say he's bound to figure things out on his own."

Jack took the wine bottle from her hand without asking because they had the physical ease with one another that came with a strong partnership. He had saved her life and she had saved his in the line of duty more times than either could count. He had lifted her, she had attempted to carry him in a few very laughable situations. He had undressed her, re-dressed her, and undressed her again. There were so many slices of history between them that such close mannerisms no longer seemed out of place.

Jack muttered down to the impressive bottle of wine: "I don't want him to know."

Phryne went quiet, watching him: "Know what?" She had learned through her time with Jack to never assume she knew what he intended to say. He was a man of few words, and she often found herself provoking him to elaborate.

He walked past her to the counter where he set the bottle down and leaned with exhaustion. "I ... don't want him to ever hear what people were saying. About us."

Phryne's hand was overlapping his before he could have drawn away. "Jack ... I'm not asking to share your bed again. I just thought we ought to talk. There's no reason for gossip to spread."

"Well then ask me what you will," he said in a way that was meant as a tease and came out more snippy than playful. Phryne was entertained that she understood without his having to explain - it was all in his eyes. Jack said so much with his eyes.

"Do you intend to rush me out of here without food or can we talk over dinner, as was discussed?"

"Negotiating this early in the evening?" Jack teased more genuinely. Effortlessly.

Phryne grinned happily at him: "I'm fresh out of practice. I had to start somewhere."

Before she could tease him any further, Jack was showing her to the table and bringing out the food for the evening. When he heard a door creak, he excused himself to put Henry to bed and read him a story to watch those little eyes grow heavy.

Phryne left the food to cool if need be, and watched from the hall as Jack leaned over Henry's bed and kissed his forehead.

"Night night," Jack whispered, walking to turn off the light and close the door only to find Phryne there with arms crossed, waiting for him. Had she been watching him?  
He walked back into the kitchen with her, each of them sitting to the meal. Jack was the first to speak, gesturing for her to start.

"I'm sorry, he's had a rough time lately ... it can be hard for him to sleep."

Phryne chose her food of choice and started quietly cutting as her eyes flashed up at him: "Are you kidding? He seems like an angel."

"A sad angel."

Phryne's heart sank, changing the topic as her curiosity shook her self control: "And ... his mother? Anna?"

"What about her?"

"I just ... don't really know anything about her."

"You didn't stay to find out."

Phryne sighed. "Jack ... did you expect me to stay?"

"I expected you not to leave halfway across the world!"

They both went quiet when they realized they were raising their voices. Phryne set down her utensils.

"I'm sorry," Jack started, interrupted with a very sincere voice across from him.

"No, I'M sorry ... I really am. For everything. My mother said you would be the most dangerous man I'd ever met, but I didn't believe her. Not at the time. And then I came back and tried to ... I tried to just do what I thought I could ... and ... everything became so complicated, Jack ... I never meant to hurt you."

Jack was taken aback by her open honesty: "Your mother said what?"

Phryne rolled her eyes and dropped her face into her hands - elbows on the table. "Yes ... she knows how important it is to me to live freely, and there you were ... this man I couldn't stop talking about, wanting to settle down with me."

"Sounds dangerous," he quipped, but Phryne continued as if she hadn't heard it.

"You were different to me ... You were ... We weren't on the same page, were we, Jack? And we pressed things too quickly, and we got caught. And the talk of others ... all the talk ... it just ... it tore everything apart."

Jack's smile dropped when he realized just how emotional Phryne was allowing herself to become. She did not allow herself to cry often, but when she did, it was for good reason. What was she revealing to him? He listened to the catch of her breath.

When he saw she was crying to herself, he stared openly at her. He willed himself to keep from consoling her the way he would have done years ago as she went on.

"I tried, Jack ... when I left. I tried to go on the way I thought I wanted, but ... when it wasn't enough, I just felt so broken. It took me a long time to realize what I needed, and by then, I had word you'd been married and had a child on the way."

Jack couldn't breathe.

Phryne was still looking down at the table - her lip trembling instinctively - before she brought her eyes up to see the shock and emotion in Jack's eyes. "I was too late."

Jack felt tingles between his shoulder blades, his stomach suddenly unsettled. He couldn't decide what to do - what to say. "Phryne ..."

They both sat full of words when a little voice distracted their feelings.

"Mommy? ... Daddy!"

Phryne waited while Jack consoled his little boy, eventually going over to the couch to try and relax her nerves. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Jack exit from the boy's room carrying Henry's half-asleep little form on his hip. When Henry was carefully handed to Phryne over the back of the couch, Phryne accepted the delivery with confusion and adoration - the small body falling limp on top of her. Trusting and tired and small. Phryne beamed when Henry cuddled against her chest and settled against her to sleep.

Jack watched the sight with a smile of his own. Henry enjoyed the warmth of others when falling to sleep after nightmares, and Phryne needed some warmth herself. The look on her face, holding Henry, told Jack he'd made a fine choice. She had brightened considerably holding the sleeping boy, and Henry fell right to sleep against her.

With a long blanket that was frayed on one edge, he covered Phryne and Henry on the couch, sitting at her feet to admire the way she held his son.

"You're a natural."

Although he knew Phryne wanted to tease she hadn't ASKED to have the child plopped into her lap in the first place, she was immersed in the care of a child. She was touching Henry's cheek and grazing her thumb over his little ear, smiling uncontrollably when he curled himself into a ball like a puppy.

"You're an evil man," Phryne whispered at last, grinning up at Jack with joy. "Now I'm trapped here and you know it."

"All the better to interrogate you," Jack hummed back, clasping his hands together as he leaned with his elbows on his knees.

"Keep it quick," she smiled, relaxing a little with slow movements to calm her breathing so the child could feel a steady beat of her heart. "I'm likely to fall asleep here."

"Why did you really leave?"

Phryne kept one hand at the side of Henry's face, and one gently moving in circles over his back. She watched the child for another minute, and then looked up at Jack, whispering: "Why do you think I left?"

Jack whispered just as evenly: "I think you were angry."

"Not angry ... upset."

"At me?"

"No, not you. At ... conventions. At this city. At ... at myself too, I guess. Someone I couldn't outrun, as it turns out ..."

Jack let one of his hands down to the blanket he had laid over the other two, tracing his way down to where Phryne's feet were hiding. He had always enjoyed touching them - massaging them - because he knew they were very sensitive, and she didn't trust just anyone with her feet.

"And other ... men?"

Phryne rolled her eyes, kissing the top of Henry's sleeping head when the little boy groaned softly and fell into an even deeper sleep against her. Phryne whispered even quieter, both arms around Henry: "You think you have a right to ask that, do you, Mr. Husband?"

"Well, that was one woman."

"You slept with her just the once, then?"

Jack smirked at his hands, his lips pulling into an even tighter grin when he realized how unfair that question was.  
He had no right to question Phryne about her lovers. "I just meant ..."

When Jack's smile turned into a heavy, thoughtful frown, Phryne dropped hers too.

"I just meant was there ... anyone else special to you? While you were away?"

Phryne looked down at Henry sleeping soundly, and shook her head. "No one as special as you've found here, Jack. I ... can't believe it. You have a son." She smiled at Jack. "You've always wanted a son."

"Yeah."

"And 'Henry,' hmm?"

Jack chuckled: "Not my selection, I guarantee. It was her grandfather's name."

"Anna's?"

"Common name I suppose."

Phryne closed her eyes with the comforting small weight of the little boy tucked in against her. "Better than _the big bad lady _anyway ..."__

__Jack's hand tensed over her feet, and Phryne stifled her laughter. "It's okay, Jack. I know you didn't start it."_ _

__He softened at her humor, and jested back: "How do you know?"_ _

__When she kicked him in the thigh, Jack went to grab her leg, but she held onto little Henry, and shook her head - insinuating that if he did, he'd wake the boy._ _

__"Later," Jack promised in that rumbled tone of his._ _

__Phryne forced herself to sit up with the boy in her arms when she noted that appealing tone. She scooped Henry up awkwardly and stood to her feet, just trying to figure out the most comfortable way to hold a sleeping child as she spoke quietly to Jack: "I think it's best that I be _gone _'later' to be honest. Here, take this perfect little bundle and I'll get my things."___ _

____"Phryne - you've hardly even eaten," Jack whispered, taking Henry when she implied he should. Holding the unconscious child against his chest with one arm. "Come on, there's no reason to leave so early."_ _ _ _

____Phryne immediately thought back to her time away, and the last man she had tried to entertain without any thoughts of Jack. And yet there had always been that loving voice invading her memories. She had promised herself that she wouldn't allow his tones to become so warm in her presence again - it was too much for them both. And for once, Phryne wanted to be the voice of self control. Someone had to be the voice of reason, and Phryne Fisher would try anything once._ _ _ _

____"I'm ... I'll call you another day, Jack."_ _ _ _

____"Phryne-"_ _ _ _

____"You'll wake him," she breathed even quieter, reaching up to Jack to plant a very innocent kiss against his cheek with her hand gently at the child's back. It was a simple reach of affection that touched Jack so deeply he felt shattered. "Goodnight, Jack."_ _ _ _

____Jack stood with Henry wriggling in his arm as Phryne left - not daring to look back. The present, the inspector thought glumly, had an unsettling way of mirroring the past._ _ _ _

He just wondered how he was going to get his answers and find a place in which Phryne felt more comfortable to open up to him. Roles had been reversed, it seemed, in all their time apart. Jack had become the pursuer - staring after her with frustration and sorrow. Had Phryne always felt so dismissed?

Jack clung onto his little boy and reluctantly closed the door, wondering how to get her alone. How did one corral an intelligent and crafty lady detective?

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some history is uncovered by Dot & Hugh's perspectives.

Hugh was filing through some paperwork at his desk when there was a knock that sounded with a startling thump. Over the years since Phryne had been gone, he had calmed and his confidence had grown considerably, but when he looked up to see it was her, he was immediately back to the bumbling mess he'd been during his start at the station.

"M-Miss Fisher," he stuttered, not physically stumbling but mentally. "What ... are you doing here?"

She was hanging onto the side of his doorway, flashing her usual smile and a slightly longer cut of hair than he remembered, but more angled. Hugh was surprised at the image she made, standing before him in a rather simple outfit of slacks and a button-up blouse.

"I was asked to look into a case," Phryne started easily, ignoring the way he stuttered. "But - well, I just can't at the moment."

Hugh frowned: "You're ... turning _down _a case?" It was a difficult thing to understand.__

__Phryne did her best to simply smile: "Oh, Hugh. It's nothing so serious as you imagine." She didn't enter his smaller office, but admired the décor of the room. "You're doing well for yourself."_ _

__Hugh chuckled: "If you mean the look of the place, I'm afraid it's mostly Dottie's doing. Have you been to see her?"_ _

__"I've just been over at the house, and I'm going back shortly," Phryne admitted, thinking back to the two children she knew they'd had in her time away. She grinned at the conversation she'd had with Dorothy about what good friends Robert and Henry were at such a young age._ _

__"I hope they were finally giving Dottie some rest," Hugh grumbled in a way that told Phryne he'd matured considerably. The way he held himself was different, even if the rest of him seemed entirely the same as the day she left._ _

__"Yes, Agnes was sleeping," Phryne smiled._ _

__"That's something."_ _

__"Yes."_ _

__"So the client?" Hugh asked, motioning to the paper in her hand._ _

__It took Phryne approximately ten minutes to give Hugh the notion of reason for the client having seeked her services, and the information the client had given for the police to see. She had mentioned to the grieving brother she might not have been up to a case so soon after arriving, and the client had been understanding. Hugh was simply confused. Regardless, he took the case and thanked Miss Fisher before seeing her out._ _

__She made for a very catching image, Hugh imagined, for a man so inclined to stare. He shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun as she walked to her car at the curb and smiled at the way she grinned as she tucked herself in behind the wheel._ _

__"Be safe out there," he called, frozen in place as Phryne whipped her head around and raised a brow - sunglasses in place._ _

__"Hugh Collins. Are you telling me what to do?"_ _

__The panic he felt was a strange thing, given that Phryne held no true power over him, but she could be very assertive when she wanted to be. Not that Hugh had ever been intimidated by her ..._ _

__Phryne smirked when Hugh hadn't thought of anything to say. "Don't let it happen again," she teased, lifting her glasses to wink in his direction, and set them back to focus on the road ahead._ _

__Hugh was left frustrated at his childish reaction to Miss Fisher, grumbling about her visit when Jack arrived for his shift at the station hours later._ _

__"What was that?" Jack asked, swinging himself into the same doorway with the same leaning pose Hugh had seen Phryne take earlier. It made him blink nervously._ _

__"Uh ... Sh-she stopped by, Sir. Handed me a file of some information, and-"_ _

__"But she's giving up a case?" Jack interrupted, his eyes no longer settling on Hugh, but searching the room aimlessly. Thinking. "To the police?"_ _

__"That's ... what is sounded like, yes, Sir."_ _

__Jack sighed and tapped with his hand at the door frame. "Hmm. Well thank you for the update ..."_ _

__But Jack was gone by the time Hugh lifted his head again from his desk work. Hugh rolled his eyes: like Phryne, like Jack. The two investigators had always been of the same mind, as far as Hugh Collins was concerned. Why Phryne left him, however, Hugh had never understood. He hadn't approved either. Everyone knew that Jack hadn't wanted things to end so abruptly, even after he and Phryne had begun seeing other people - Phryne out of choice and Jack out of spite, perhaps. But it was drama that Hugh imagined Jack would never have started if Phryne hadn't driven him so absolutely mad. What was it about her that drove men wild? Hugh suspected he didn't want to know._ _

__What had Anna even been to Jack? Hugh had to wonder since Jack had so many qualms about marrying her. Jack would never have vocalized such a thing, but as Hugh carried on with the station, the more he understood about human behaviour, and Jack had only been playing the part of a happy groom-to-be. Weeks before the wedding, Hugh had actually tried contacting Phryne to urge her back to the city, but his plan hadn't unfolded properly. Phryne had never received the call. Hugh spent many days blaming his lack of persistence for the shamble Jack's second marriage turned out to be. It wasn't logical, but it was a resounding thought nonetheless._ _

__Did a man have to marry a woman who had fallen pregnant with his child? Hugh had struggled for a long while about that, having seen Jack's sadness unravel, but had opted that he would hold to the church's stance. Jack, however, wasn't an entirely religious man, so Hugh wondered what kept him to the tradition. Perhaps it was what Anna wanted - Hugh wasn't one to pry._ _

__Dorothy, however, was. Especially in Jack's affairs. Since Phryne had been gone, it was almost as if Dot had taken over the lively woman's insertion into Jack's life._ _

__Dot had taken to visiting the station with the kids, commenting and helping as Miss Fisher would have liked to do had things turned out differently. She and Phryne had kept up correspondence, and for that, Dot was worried most of all. In Phryne's time away, it seemed that there was a hopelessness to her tone - a liveliness that had drifted._ _

__"I've taken to dining alone this week, I'm afraid," Phryne had written in one of letters, insinuating that she preferred loneliness to the company of another man in her bed. A strange man._ _

__After Phryne had first become intimate with Jack, she hadn't been able to conceal her joy. She had shared - to Dot's absolute horror - slices of moments that had Dot later quite appreciative she had listened. Phryne had always sounded so happy with Jack, as volatile as they could be when they squabbled. It was always passionate. Everything about Phryne and Jack was passionate. And then things fell apart - they'd been caught in Jack's office and he'd been suspended because of her. Blame was taken, not given, and feelings were crushed with words that couldn't be taken back. Phryne had gone away, and written of loneliness._ _

__Dot wished so desperately to make her friend happy again. She had been the one to call Phryne about Henry. She had been the one to leak information about the case, and she was also the one to sit across from Phryne that very afternoon, prompting the lovely brunette to take matters into her own hands._ _

__"I want to see you happy, Miss," Dot smiled, always using the name as a sort of tease, as Phryne often rolled her eyes to the title that had been long since relevant. "I do. You and Jack. You both deserve happiness."_ _

__"Well, there's a little boy to consider now," Phryne mumbled truthfully, playing with a handkerchief from the table when Dot brought over tea and cookies._ _

__"Yes, and that little boy could do with a little happiness, I'd say."_ _

__Phryne chuckled: "You make Anna out to be some cold fish, Dot."_ _

__"I don't know about fish ..."_ _

__Phryne laughed again, relaxing back into her chair. The slouching made her look petite, and Dot smiled at her. "She's about your size, you know. Awfully similar, physically speaking ..."_ _

__Phryne rolled her eyes again. "Don't flatter me." But then she blinked at Dot self-consciously. "Pretty ...?"_ _

__"Very pretty," Dot teased, grabbing a cookie. "But not as pretty as you, Miss. And the longest, most impractical blond hair ... I can't imagine what she does with it!"_ _

__"Maybe she shackled him with it," Phryne quipped, always enjoying in putting Dot off her tea with a well-timed, saucy tease. It worked._ _

__Dot pretended she hadn't heard it, with which Phryne was endlessly entertained._ _

__"Thank you, really, Dot," Phryne sighed earnestly, taking a few sips of her hot tea. "This ... is heaven. And I've missed you so terribly much."_ _

__Dot reached her hand out and squeezed Phryne's: "I knew you would jump on that plane, Miss, and I knew you'd find Henry. That scared little boy ... I just knew it."_ _

__"Oh, Dot. What would I ever do without you, Dear Girl?"_ _

__"Probably eat less of these sugar cookies," Dot laughed, muttering aggravations under her breath when she heard her youngest waking with a cry. "I'll be back."_ _

__Phryne sat, feeling unfit in a way she never thought would matter - child care. She sighed and then laughed at her own thoughts, stealing away another cookie to nibble. She didn't want to be Henry's mother - that had never been a desire for her. But to care for the boy and show him that life could be full of wonderful surprises? She smiled to think of the energy it would give them both. She closed her eyes with a meditative ease at the thought of Jack Robinson. That complicated, impossible man. If only he weren't so unmistakably appetizing._ _


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack tracks down a particular lady detective.

Jack was striding along the beach when he realized his son was having trouble keeping up in the soft sand. He slowed his steps with a hand reached down to the little boy who happily accepted and walked alongside his father in the piercing afternoon sun.

Henry loved his father's rough hands and the stubble he could get on his face. It was comforting and familiar. When he felt his father slow to his pace, he smiled and went more eagerly along until they stopped to set up the beach blanket.

"It's cold, Daddy," Henry exclaimed, already digging his hands into the depths of sand that felt damp and coarse.

Jack's laugh carried to Henry's ears and comforted the boy further. He knew his father was setting out the blanket and lying across it. Many times before they had gone through the same routine together - stretching out together, playing and eating. But they hadn't brought food?

Just as Henry realized the strange disruption of a routine he so enjoyed, he turned toward his father and saw something that caught his eye. The woman who had found him!

Finally closing his eyes to get some relaxation in, Jack smirked that he had found the precise location he'd intended. His Henry was a smart observer, and it would only take time for the boy to point over to her and begin the conversation. After all, how could Jack have known where she would be? Dorothy certainly hadn't told him when he'd pressed for her location that day ...

When Jack felt shade across his face, he frowned his smirk away and squinted his eyes open to see Phryne Fisher standing over him. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Phryne!" he gasped, twisting around to see his son there at her side, holding her hand. Henry - holding a stranger's hand? An almost stranger, at least. Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing. He must have been so comfortable with her. He must have trusted her. The little boy was even leaning against Phryne in all of her statuesque glory. "Miss Fisher ..."

"Fancy meeting you here, Mr. Robinson."

Henry wanted to tell them how much he liked the beach - he wanted to interrupt as a child might like to do, but felt somehow silenced. He bit his cheek and simply looked out to the ocean as the adults spoke. They were talking with a familiarity Henry had heard between Jack and his mother, Anna, and that confused him. He looked up at them and smiled when the lady beamed down at him.

"You little heart breaker," Phryne teased, wiggling his whole arm by wiggling the hand grasping hers. "Your smile is quite mysterious and charming, Young Man."

Henry couldn't help but smile a little wider. He liked compliments.

"And those pink little cheeks," Phryne chuckled, seeing the boy lighten at her words. "What a handsome little boy."

Jack shook his head, chuckling out at the view the beach afforded. Of course Phryne was complimenting his three-year-old son. What else should he expect?

"Has your daddy fed you?" Phryne inquired mischievously, Jack could tell. Even with his head turned from them. "Well, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I stole you away to my blanket for a few minutes."

Jack smirked at her audacity. She wouldn't even invite him, hmm? He wanted to laugh, but settled for a glance tossed over his shoulder to see Henry happily walking off with her toward a smaller but more luxurious blanket. Jack sighed with humor to allow himself to enjoy the sun. Phryne would be back, and he trusted her complicity to care for his son. Phryne had always been so good with children, regardless of her own insecurities.

When Jack turned onto his stomach over the blanket to re-adjust, he glanced over to the other blanket nearer the grass, and he froze. There stood a man beside Phryne, obviously flirting with her, and Henry quite accidentally blocking those advances. He was completely oblivious to the interaction, and instead was handing her pretend dishes of food made out of crumbling sand. With the interruption, the man looked quite taken aback, but still persistent. Jack's brow went up - a woman with child was not enough to deter him?

"I'm good with kids," Jack could hear the man say from his blanket, rolling his eyes.

"I'm sure you are," Phryne laughed openly, nodding her thanks to Henry before winking at the man but dismissing him all the same.

Without pause, Jack lifted himself from his blanket and walked purposefully over to that infuriatingly addictive woman. She was an almost profane vision in that deep red bathing costume, reclined on her elbows with short, dark hair blowing in the gentle breeze. Jack had to encourage himself as he walked over that he did, in fact, have the confidence to approach her. They certainly had history.

"Jack," she smiled with her eyes closed, obviously spying him drifting over not long ago. That damned observant goddess.

He put his hands on his hips while Henry dug deeper into the sand to make a mote around him as Phryne had requested. Jack could only shake his head and grin down at her.

"Daddy, you're in the mote," Henry said in his high voice, hopping with excitement as the tiny path he dug seemed suddenly promising.

"It takes a mote now, does it?" Jack teased, smiling when Phryne allowed herself the reaction. "To keep men at bay?"

"Who says I want to keep them at bay?" she asked, taunting him. Oh, she knew how he could be riled up. But suddenly she remembered she wasn't going to entice him. She wasn't going to do the easy thing and let herself succumb to what she really wanted. She had to think of Jack, and they hadn't started things properly the first time. So she promptly changed her tone, and cleared her voice. "I ... I just thought Henry could help me."

"I'm helping, Daddy, to keep Miss Fisher safe."

Jack blinked down at his son who spoke very little, and realized just how much fun he was having with Phryne. Jack didn't want to interrupt it either, stepping over the beginnings of the boy's mote.

"Daddy!" Henry cried, looking up to his father, hurt.

"Jack!" Phryne scolded teasingly, knowing exactly why the boy was upset. "He's gone to all this trouble to protect me with this mote, and you've gone and stepped over without asking permission?"

Jack stepped back and crouched down next to his son. "Did it take you long to build this?"

Henry immediately lit up, nodding.

"Well it was very scary to cross it, if that helps."

Henry smiled a little softer, carelessly.

Jack inhaled deeply and exhaled just as slowly, watching his little boy focus on the seemingly meaningless task: "How do I cross it, Son?"

"You have to ask the queen of the palace," Henry explained, as if his father should really have known better in the first place.

"Ah," Jack said with humor only Phryne could read in his voice. When he stood again, Phryne felt a shiver through her. Jack was a vision, and a very intimidating man when he wanted to be. And damn that man if he didn't know exactly how to affect her. "Well, Madame Queen? What say you I cross this mote?"

Phryne laughed, but turned instead to the hard-working Henry: "What do you think, Henry? Do you think I can trust this man in our palace?"

Henry nodded, licking the corner of his mouth with focus as he mapped out where he was digging next.

"Very well then," Phryne chuckled, gesturing dramatically to the spot beside her on the blanket. "You may enter, I suppose."

"You're burning," Jack noticed immediately, despite the playfulness between them. She hadn't been tucked under her umbrella because she'd been playing with Henry.

"Am I?"

"Yes, on your shoulders and legs," Jack answered, noting to himself that her chest was looking pink as well. But he didn't want to admit he'd been looking.

"Did you put enough lotion?" Henry asked, still immersed in his task.

Phryne couldn't look Jack in the eye as he sat aside her. They both knew she detested lotion, and curled up under a blanket for most of her beach-going so she could avoid the greasy concoction. There had only been few occasions in which Jack was able to coat her in the solution, and those occasions had not been for public consumption.

When Jack noticed the uncomfortable shifting of the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher from the corner of his eye, he had to clear his throat. She was thinking about it - his hands on her. She was thinking about what it would feel like for him to touch her after all that time, as he sat just inches away from her. It was almost too much. The tension was becoming unbearable when Henry jumped up and announced that he was finished the protective mote. He leapt over it as if it were a true feat, and kicked sand all over with the active stunt.

Phryne instinctively turned onto her side at the act with sand flying, and shielded her face while Jack caught the squirming, happy child and tickled Henry. Phryne brushed the sand off her, and turned to the endearing sight at her side. She certainly wasn't much used to children, but she had really grown attached to Henry in the short time she'd known him. There was something about the boy that reminded her of the many people she had adopted into a sort of chosen family through time - partly broken. She so wanted to keep him smiling, even if that meant some discomfort on her part.

And so, against her greater instincts, she reached over and started to tickle Jack.

"Get him!" she laughed, attacking Jack with tickles until he let Henry go. "Get him! Let's get him!"

When Henry helped her with the ludicrous task of tickling his usually very reserved father, he was laughing so wildly, Phryne's heart melted. Henry was giggling and squealing with joy even after Jack had pulled Phryne over his hip as a sort of defence - tickling her in turn with their limbs intertwined.

"Get back here!" Jack teased his son, grasping for the boy squirming away with screaming laughter only to find he was just out of reach.

Phryne's breath caught when she relaxed to a gentler hand, warm over her scantily-clad abdomen. She knew he could feel her quick, short breaths under his hand. Jack was playing her as easily as she had always done with him, and Phryne was quite surprised at the change of dynamic between them. When Jack leaned down appetizingly over her, Phryne could only swallow hard and watch his lips.

"You're lucky I'm accompanied, Miss Fisher."

Who was this man? She suddenly felt altogether weak.

Instead of facing her feelings or the memories swimming through her mind, Phryne turned to see if anyone was watching - looking to Henry to see the small child scream playfully, tripping on his own two feet into the sand.

"Hey Daddy," Henry beamed, hurrying back over to the blanket just as Jack and Phryne pulled themselves up to sit innocently beside one another. "Gators will keep the castle safe!"

Jack smiled at his boy's youthful exuberance: "Why don't you see what kind of shells you can find by the shore for the castle?"

With excitement, Henry ran down to the shore, splashing in the water and looking for special shells just like he often did with his father at his side. It always reminded Henry of his father, sorting through shells methodically.

Figuring he owed her a few more answers, Jack offered them to the fidgeting woman at his side.

"We've spent a lot of my afternoons off here at the beach," he said, still watching his son, but speaking with the woman who had been much more obvious about her curiosities in the past. "Especially since Anna's left."

"Where exactly is she?" Phryne asked, trying to set aside her feelings. Her need.

"America," he sighed, clearly upset.

"Without her son? That doesn't seem likely of a loving mother."

"Anna wanted to take him with her," he started, emotional at the memory. "She did, and I hated it, but ... I finally agreed. But as the day of their trip approached, Henry was such a mess ... we took him to see a doctor."

"A mess how?"

"He was having all kinds of nightmares, anxiety and all that. I feel somehow disabled as a father ... to still not know exactly why he reacted like that."

Phryne watched Jack, sorry for his pain. "Well I understand that, but try not to beat yourself up about it, Jack. If a doctor couldn't give you an answer ..."

"But I'm his father."

"And a GOOD father at that," Phryne smiled, quickly tearing her eyes away again when her eyes had regrettably settled on his arms. She always hated for him to catch her staring at his arms. He knew how it weakened her.

"Phryne ... I don't know why you're ... not exactly you anymore, either. Not so persistent. I'd like to ... catch up a little. I think I deserve a few answers, too."

Phryne smiled, but refused to lock eyes with him. She settled her gaze instead on the adorable image Henry made picking over sandy seashells in his precious navy swimsuit that was too big around his legs.

"Phryne?"

When he pushed a little further, she sighed and looked down at her feet. Damn that man and his concerns. "Jack ... it was hard for me. Dealing with the loss of you ..."

"Loss?"

"After we split ways," she said with sorrow, closing her eyes with her short hair covering the side of her face so he wouldn't see the real emotion in her features. "I felt as if I'd lost you. When you seemed so happy with Margo or whatever the hell her name was-"

"-Phryne-"

"-And it's just NOT ME to care so much about that - seeing you find another bed partner - but she wasn't just that for you, was she?" Phryne said, looking to him with tears in her eyes. "No woman is, is she?"

"None I share my bed with, no," he admitted, reaching out to hold her hand only to have her fold her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on her knees and just watched the waves.

"I don't know how to do this, Jack."

She always looked so beautiful when she curled up like that. Jack had always enjoyed covering her body with his or pulling her into his arms to console her, but not having that right irked him. It was difficult to just sit and watch her agonize over the past.

Phryne did everything she could not to transport herself back to old times. She was focusing on being strong when a large hand rested on her back and all her strength broke away into irrational pieces.

"Just have dinner with me," he said in that scratchy voice that always affected her. Did he know what he was doing? "Maybe we can figure all this out."

Maybe we could do more than talk. The tease died on her lips, but the desire buried frustratingly between her legs. He was staring at her - he was showing her that he wanted more, and the memories of the past were almost too much to bear. He had always been an attentive and enthusiastic lover, but it was his loving nature that most often set her to distraction. In her time away from Jack, she always recalled fondly the look in his eyes as they moved together, or the way he whispered her name as he came. One memory came to life as Phryne closed her eyes; Jack had exhausted her one particularly hot night, and pinned her wrists over her head to kiss her cheeks and nudge her legs apart again just to lie there, with her. It was a memory that bothered her often in the heat of the sun.

"I'll be right back," she said awkwardly, getting to her feet as fluidly as she could, obviously heading for the lapping waves of the ocean.

"It's cold!" he warned as she walked off, leaning back on an elbow.

Phryne kept on, waving over her shoulder with a smile: "I'm counting on it."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little communication.

Phryne had been nervous all the way to Jack's place after hearing Dot had taken Henry for the evening. She drove herself there with an usual adherence to the rules of the road. She was cautious - unknowing of what Jack might do or say. What might he apologize for? What might try? She knew she couldn't be held responsible for her actions if he kissed her ...

At least they were going out for dinner in public. She could show restraint in public. She could keep it together.

When she arrived at his door with a sturdy knock, Jack appeared in a button-up with unfair sleeves rolled up his arms. Was he wearing anything underneath that shirt? He knew how it weakened her resolve to wear a single layer of clothing. That damned man.

"Jack ..."

"We're eating here tonight," he said, almost smiling. "Come in."

Phryne stood on his doorstep in a button-up of her own, conservative-looking as ever. That had always irked Jack - desiring to make the picture more familiar by taking off an item or two of her outfit. They stared at each other for a long moment, but Phryne waited cautiously out front.

"Jack ... I don't think that's a good idea."

His face grew serious, leaning handsomely against the door. "I have things to say to you that would be best done in private."

Seeing as he was making sense, Phryne slowly stepped inside of his humble home. She cleared her throat as her eyes washed over the room that was becoming familiar again - his living room. When the door clicked behind her, she felt suddenly emotional, but she held it inside behind watery eyes.

Jack spoke from behind her: "I know we haven't really spoken about things because of Henry ... but he won't be here, all night."

She ignored the trailing piece of that sentence, and focused on the fact that they could speak openly. She wanted to turn to Jack, but felt stuck in place - back turned to him. "I'm sorry, Jack."

When she felt his hands on her shoulders, she instantly relaxed. She heard his voice over her shoulder: "Why didn't you tell me what she said to you?"

Phryne closed her eyes at the thought of Margo, or whatever the hell her name was. The woman Jack had started seeing after Phryne. The woman who had told her lies and made her feel awful about her effect on Jack. The jealous woman who had told Phryne that Jack couldn't stand to look at her anymore.

"She was just jealous," Jack whispered, clearly upset by the way things had ended. "Phryne ... if I had known ... you should have told me all the things she said to you. All the things other people were saying when I wasn't around."

"I can take care of myself."

"You didn't have to."

She closed her eyes when his hands moved down over her arms, calming her. He was standing so closely behind her that she could feel his heat at her back. "Jack ... there's so much we need to say. You can't stand that close."

"No cold ocean to save you this time?"

"Unless you plan on delivering after all of this teasing-"

Suddenly his hands spun her by her waist, and he was staring at her. He had become a much more assured man since their intimate time together. His hands were so sure - so confident of the parts she liked him to touch. "Would you expect anything less?"   
When he saw she didn't know what to say - when she couldn't seem to manage even her thoughts - he pulled her a little closer and smiled.

"I'm not pushing anything, but as I remember it ... you came on quite strong once you arrived back from London those years ago ... I thought I would return the favor."

Phryne blushed at the mention of her enthusiasm. She had arrived by plane from London to her slew of friends and the quiet detective at the back who wasn't altogether certain if she was angry with him for not literally coming after her on her trip. Dispelling any concerns, Phryne had moved through the crowd after some hugs with friends, strode right up to him and laced her arms around his neck. "Kiss me, Jack," she's whispered, encouraging the act by pulling him in closer and pressing into the embrace. Mac had later told her that she didn't have the right to embarrass a man so thoroughly in public, and Phryne had laughed.

She wondered then, standing before Jack in his living room, just what he planned on doing to return her bold enthusiasm.

"You took me by surprise so many times," he smiled, combing her hair behind her ears. "So I thought ... if I could do the same ... maybe all was not lost ..."

He leaned in, but brushed her cheek against hers to seek her neck. He was kissing her neck - Phryne felt her entire body react. "Jack ..."

"Is this surprising enough?" he teased, his hands closing around her waist. His tongue venturing out to accompany his lips against her neck, up along her ear.

"Jack ... please ..."

She was begging for him to touch her. She was desperate - it had been far too long. But Jack wasn't about to make things so easy. He wanted her to crumble in his hands.

His fingers slipped around her hip to expertly undo the buttons of her trousers. "Please what, Miss Fisher ...?" Her pants opened tauntingly, but rested on her hips as his lips started working down toward her shoulder. He was always such an excellent kisser. Why did he have to be such an excellent kisser?

"Jack ... I ... I missed you ..."

"You say that like it's a bad thing ..."

"It is when I forget to breathe."

He laughed against her neck, feeling her smaller hands on his shoulders to keep herself steady. "Breathe."

She squirmed a little - kicking off her pants, he realized. His hands immediately drifted to her backside, growling at the perfect body he'd missed so dearly. "Phryne ... God, tell me you want this ..."

"I'm sorry I left," she whispered, clinging to him. Obviously upset but desperate for his touch.

"I'm sorry you thought you had to," he slurred, taking her in hungry kisses - desperate himself. All he needed was for her to admit that she wanted him again. All he needed was her word that she was just as hungry for a reunion and he would let himself loose.

"Jack ..." she moaned, scratching her fingers up his neck and through his hair. He tingled, lifting her in his arms so her legs wrapped around him. He walked somewhat cautiously with her, holding her up with his hands on the backside he had thought of on particularly lonely nights.

Phryne held him close to her as they walked - Phryne being too tall against him to lean in for a kiss.

She so badly wanted to kiss him. It had been years since she'd done it, and suddenly she couldn't imagine lasting another day without it. His kisses were always so deep and thoughtful - they were shattering, in fact.

While Phryne had been away, she had entertained many men in her private accommodations, but none had kissed her like Jack. They had been energetic and passionate and skilled, but no one compared to the way Jack had always kissed her. In another man's arms, Phryne was riled but always controlled. In Jack's arms, she felt herself go weak and unpredictably soft. There were times when she moved past that softness with Jack of course, but it was always there. There was a tenderness between them that she hadn't been able to replicate with anyone else. And his kisses ... she felt dizzy at the very thought.

Once they reached his bed, Jack climbed onto it with her, lying her down and pressing his hand into the middle of her chest as she reached up. He kept her down against the mattress, smiling at her. She was always so impatient - one of the many things he loved about her.

"Tell me you want this, Phryne ... I want no miscommunications ..."

"I don't want to need you, Jack, but I do ... I need you," she said with an emotion behind her eyes he could not ignore. She was sincerely upset. "Just kiss me ... please?"

"Don't roll us over," he warned with a low whisper that reached her ears just as his lips lowered. She closed her eyes to the many memories she had of sitting astride Jack's hips - a position that weakened him almost uncontrollably. Time seemed to stand still while he reached down to her and slipped his hand under her neck, kissing her slowly. It was the kind of kiss he'd given to her when she had been upset before or needed consoling. All of his kisses were attentive, but hardly as tortuously slow as his tender kisses. Phryne felt her entire body melt underneath him, uncaring as to where they were or what he planned to do with her.

Phryne started to drift into another place entirely as his kisses deepened. She carefully reached her hands up and moved the pads of her fingers over Jack's neck, down the back of his shirt.

Jack could hardly believe it was happening - Phryne kissing him. Pinned underneath him. Enjoying his touch again. It had been so long since he'd had her in his bed, and after marrying Anna, he'd left all hope of Phryne behind. But there she was, just as weak as she'd always been when he teased her so carefully. She was opening to him. She was as magnificently tender as he had remembered - not that anyone else would have believed her ability to be so soft in a heated moment. Jack knew better. Phryne was not only the most adventurous, but the softest lover he had imagined. She was soft because of her tendency to dominate and her intention to be gentle with him. Jack thought he could cry when her fingers gently slipped under his shirt, comforting him.

The deeper he kissed, the more energy she showed in return. They kissed in their relatively motionless positions until his thigh came down between hers, and then they were moving and touching without much control at all.

When Phryne instinctively rolled them, Jack groaned and grew harder - his hands moving down her back with immediate need.

"Phryne! ... Stop ..." he gasped, throbbing against her. Between those warm thighs.

She drew back breathlessly to look at him, realizing what she had done. She's rolled them exactly as he'd asked her not to do. She smiled to keep from laughing, sitting up to look down at the vision she had so missed - sitting astride him. There was nothing quite like riding Jack, but he HAD asked her not to do it. It was the one thing he'd asked, so she didn't tease him about it, but removed herself and laid on her back beside him. Exhaling, shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Sorry," he stuttered, his face pained when she glanced over at him. "It's ... been a long time."

"Don't be sorry for that."

"I'm sorry I don't feel I have control when you do that," he rasped, pulling himself up to sit. "Too many nights you teased me like that ... I swear you've taught me to lose my mind."

Though they each stared up at the ceiling, Phryne could tell he was grinning. She had never meant to train his body to react so animalistically in any one position, but he had certainly come to appreciate it. "Well, I'm sorry I've done that to you." He always knew how to stave off an orgasm to drive her wild - those exhausting nights were something she treasured dearly. "Jack ...? Do you think if we-"

"No," he answered, knowing exactly what she meant. "If we try to get this out of our systems now, we'll still have no control. You didn't bring your device either, did you?"

"What makes you say that?"

He glanced back at her. "Phryne ... I want you badly. Please don't tease me. I won't have you falling pregnant accidentally."

"Like Anna?"

He laid back again and she carefully cuddled up to his side to try and dispel the lust burning between them. She smiled when his left arm wrapped around her back and his right hand rested over hers. She listened as his breathing slowed.

"Henry is perfect. But ... we didn't plan on ... having a child, no."

Phryne frowned against him, sad for what must have been a very difficult time for Jack and Anna. She hadn't ever wished him sadness. She cuddled a little closer, brushing against his leg as she shifted. "He's a very special boy."

"Yes, he is."

"Are you afraid you'll get me pregnant too, Jack?" she asked, feeling his hand tense over hers. He was thinking.

"No ... not scared. But it is a possibility, and ..."

"I don't want to have a child, Jack."

He sighed: "That's what worries me. It's not getting married again - or not getting married at all - that frightens me. We would make it."

Phryne almost laughed: "But we've already split ways!"

"If you had stayed, we would have worked things out."

Guiltily, she fell silent. "I don't know how to live around you and not have you, Jack."

"You could have had me."

She stopped breathing for a minute: "But we'd broken up?"

Phryne thought back to Margo or whatever her name was - the woman who had first started seeing Jack after they'd split up. She instantly wondered how much that woman had really meant to Jack if he was insinuating he would have taken Phryne back so easily.

Jack cleared his throat: "I was trying to come to terms with what you wanted - trying it for myself. What do you think Margaret was for me?"

Margaret had always been snippy with Phryne during station visits or when they bumped into one another around town - had Jack been clear about his feeling for Phryne all along? Was that what had sprouted such jealousy?

Phryne picked her chin up and stared at him from just a breath away. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt like she was seeing him for the first time. "But you never get serious with anyone you don't intend on staying with for some time ...?"

"Yes, and I thought that if you have your slew of men ... maybe I could have one woman I could see when you're not around."

Phryne's eyes widened, imagining what he might have thought or done to try and imagine that lifestyle for himself. The hurdles he must have been trying to overcome in order to try at a lasting relationship with her. Had he really been willing to live such a modern arrangement?

"Jack ...?"

"But it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I ... it was complicated. She'd been saying all those things to you I found out later on. And you ..."

"I left ..."

"Yes, and you left."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't speak. She could hardly think. "Jack, I'm so sorry."

"Not as sorry as I was to say what I said to you ... I don't know how you could ever forgive me."

Phryne relaxed her body against him, showing him that she HAD forgiven him. "Well all this flirting is a nice start."

Jack held her tightly to his side, relaxing at the comfort of having her back in his bed. Even with all the mess they'd made in the past, the mere presence of her could relax his entire body. "You know ... I have to be up early tomorrow morning for work, but I think it might be nice if we slept together ... _just _slept. It might cool things down a little so we can talk about how to give _us _another try."____

____Instead of teasing or mocking him, Phryne surprisingly agreed - humming happily against his neck. "Mmm ... alright. Just as long as you offer me those pyjamas I love so much."_ _ _ _

____Jack rolled his eyes and then closed them again. "Well I'm not putting you in them, so you can forget about that."_ _ _ _

____Her pouting groan made him laugh, which soothed the woman tucked in at his side, and they drifted off accidentally together without changing or thinking to plan for the morning._ _ _ _

____Phryne awoke to the shifting from underneath her, moving her arms to stretch as her senses took in the scent of Jack. Instinctively, her hand drew itself across his abdomen to the hard appendage her thigh had grazed, feeling Jack through his trousers. She was massaging his cock when he woke up._ _ _ _

____Confused and aroused, Jack woke up to a half-asleep Phryne Fisher handling his stiff cock. It almost felt as if he had gone back in time to the days where they woke up together on a daily basis, but when reality set in, he inhaled and caught her wrist in his hand._ _ _ _

____"Phryne. What're you doing?"_ _ _ _

____"Waking up," she said groggily, cuddling against him. How did she have no idea what she was doing? And why was her first instinct always to take care of that splendidly horrible need? He calmed himself with a few breaths, but caught her wrist again when it started to drift down his abdomen._ _ _ _

____"Phryne, wake up."_ _ _ _

____"Mmm ..."_ _ _ _

____"Wake up," he said again, not aggravated but flustered with the situation. "Phryne," he whispered into her hair, trying desperately not to enjoy the way she felt against him._ _ _ _

____"Mmm Jack ..." she moaned, trying to pull herself on top of him when he rolled her onto HER back. When she finally opened her eyes, she regarded the small changes she'd seen on his face since returning, and realized why he was stopping her. They weren't together. They hadn't even touched each other in years - and she'd been groping his erection! She blinked up at him and smiled. "Sorry?"_ _ _ _

____He smiled back. "Only you would go about that accidentally."_ _ _ _

____He shuffled his way to the other side of the bed, and Phryne watched him go, wondering how they had managed a chaste night alone. Her heart sank that she hadn't pressed things a little harder, but she cared for Jack too much to race into things like the first time around. Instead, she opted for the sassy route she had begun when they first met._ _ _ _

____"Hey, Jack?" she called out when he climbed out of bed - still both clothed in attire from the night before. "Are you working on a case at the station this morning?"_ _ _ _

____"No, you're not taking over one of my cases, too," he chuckled, disappearing down the hallway._ _ _ _

____Phryne laid down in his bed again, inhaling his scent off the sheets. "Spoilsport."_ _ _ _


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack picks Henry up from Dorothy's, and is surprised by a visitor.

Jack arrived at Dorothy's place with a smile, realizing that he _did _think of it as Dorothy's place, even though Hugh had footed the bill. Dorothy had always been very much the take charge type. Whenever Jack reminisced to the circumstances in which he had first met Dorothy at the crime scene all those years back, he had to chuckle to himself. My, how far she'd come ...__

__"You seen my ball?"_ _

__Jack blinked and looked down the child standing in the doorway - Dorothy's oldest: Frank. He was the oldest by three years, as Dot had needed time to heal herself after her first baby, and her fears had kept her from conceiving for years afterwards. Frank - or Francis as it was written on his birth certificate - was the loving, rough-and-tumble boy who had Dorothy convinced so long ago that the pain of childbirth was indeed worthwhile._ _

__"Did I _see _your ball?" Jack repeated with a corrective tone, glancing around the porch. "I'm afraid I haven't, Young Man."___ _

____"You here to see Mum?"_ _ _ _

____Jack chuckled momentarily, taking in the sight of slender Frank leaning against the doorway - the child somehow using a straight tone comparable to Jack's colleagues. The boy seemed distracted as well, so with a smile, Jack waved at Hugh through the slightly opened doorway._ _ _ _

____"That a boy," Hugh congratulated with a hand ruffling Frank's messy, curled hair with Hugh's attention already lifted to Jack. "Are you here to see me or Dottie?"_ _ _ _

____"I believe she still has Henry, actually," Jack smiled, just then hearing laughter from Robert and Henry down the hallway. "As his laugh suggests."_ _ _ _

____"Get Henry for us, will you?" Hugh stated more than asked, turning to Jack more seriously as his boy scampered off. "Miss Fisher's being back here in the city, Sir ..."_ _ _ _

____Hugh remembered well how distraught Jack had been when Phryne had left the first time. Hugh was more than worried she would make a repeat performance of her vanishing act, to Jack's ultimate devastation._ _ _ _

____"I know you're concerned," Jack interrupted, sighing. "But please, trust that we're talking honestly. I won't be taken aback again."_ _ _ _

____Hugh nodded, wanting to say more but unwilling to offend his superior and friend._ _ _ _

____Robert - at age four - and Agnes - at two years old - were only one year apart in age, and were giggling and running past the door after Henry made his appearance._ _ _ _

____"Do we _have _to go?" Henry pouted with the restraint of a seasoned man.___ _ _ _

______Just as Jack was preparing to tell his son they needed a dinner alone to talk, they were all interrupted by a scream from the back of the house._ _ _ _ _ _

______Before anyone else could react, Jack scooped Henry up in his arms and bolted toward the sound. Once Jack had slid to the doorway with Henry breathlessly on his hip, Jack let out a long sigh._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Phryne! ... I thought something horrible happened."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Henry was still staring with wide eyes on his father's hip when he suddenly caught sight of the reason Miss Fisher had screamed bloody murder - a spider on the ground. Immediately, Henry clung onto his father - unused to being carried, but thankful all the same. Was the spider deadly? Had it already bitten Phryne? Was there reason to fear small spiders he hadn't known about before? Suddenly Henry felt himself growing a fear from deep within._ _ _ _ _ _

______"It _did _!" she panted, her back pasted the wall and her feet stepping uncomfortably over the mattress of Frank's bed.___ _ _ _ _ _

________Before Jack could settle himself to take care of things, he and Hugh watched as Frank walked through the small crowd of adults and stepped on the quick, scurrying spider._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Phryne held her breath so as not to scream again, and Jack could only laugh quietly to himself that Phryne was just saved by a seven-year-old. Although it would be logical that child be Frank. There was something hopelessly gruff about the young boy._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Frank! We don't step on poor spiders," Dot tisked, opening her hand to her oldest son: "It's kind of you to help, but now we're going to have to wash those shoes, young man."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Jack was grinning when Hugh and Dorothy walked off, looking to his own child as his lips straightened: "Are you alright, Son?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"He must be afraid," Phryne reasoned, knowing that look. She looked carefully around the bed before thinking of letting herself down again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"He never was before," Jack frowned, letting his suddenly-clingy son to the ground. "Henry, what's gotten into you?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry was still shaken by being in the midst of an emergency - his father had never grabbed onto him so desperately. The situation made him feel it as more serious than intended._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"... Nothing."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________But when Jack went to put his hand on Henry's back, his son jumped._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________When Henry walked off, Jack rolled his eyes to Phryne: "Great. Now you have my son afraid of spiders, too. Is this all a part of the plan? Recruit others? Let's just leave the three-year-olds out of it, shall we?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Do you think I've done that? ... I'll talk to him," Phryne insisted, cautiously slipping off the bed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"You might have to _show _him there's nothing to fear after that little stunt of yours."___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Phryne rolled her eyes and left Jack alone in the kids' room, letting out a long sigh at memories. It hadn't seemed that long ago that he almost enjoyed in Phryne's hopeless fear of spiders - often smiling at her reactions while trapping the spider and taking it outdoors._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________He couldn't help his smile from fading into an admiring gaze over to where Phryne had been shrieking on the child's bed. He remembered dearly that as soon as he had taken care of her spiders, she was always so clingy. So vulnerable - so unlike herself - and so damn tempting. Jack had always enjoyed Phryne's more vulnerable moments for his own selfish reasons. It was in those moments that he could imagine them needing one another into old age._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Can Miss Fisher watch me tomorrow?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Jack spun around toward the door where worried Henry stood, asking. His son looked hopeful, and giving the usual weekday sitter a day off would be a pleasant change._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Did she offer?" Jack asked softly, walking over to his son with his hands on his hips and his usual smile on his lips._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Out of nowhere, Phryne appeared beside the boy. "Yes, she did, in fact. She _insisted _, Jack."___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Jack felt his affection flare up for Phryne all over again: "Well then ... I suppose it's only wise to accept." He tried not to glow at her too obviously._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Henry smiled when Phryne gave him a little squeeze at her side, and followed after her down the hall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Jack watched after them with a knowing smile and a shake of his head. A Phryne Fisher influence was often a curious thing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	10. Chapter 10

Phryne laid on her side along the sofa of her hotel room, admiring the adorable sight that Henry made trying to re-create the train set loop he had seen at Dot and Hugh's. 

Since his father had dropped him off before work that morning, Phryne had taken him for a long walk to the shore, and then for ice cream. The older woman who usually nannied him often spoke to Henry more, but the child found he quite liked Miss Fisher's quiet attention. It made him feel more comfortable opening himself up. He could play and talk about his game, and he did often enough for Phryne to gain confidence in her technique. She had even found ample opportunity to assure Henry that small spiders were not to be feared. Sure he had made her promise she wouldn't be so afraid the next time around then, but she could challenge herself!

As the day had gone along so swimmingly, Henry couldn't complain - just the other day before leaving Dot's, he had borrowed a train set. His day with Miss Fisher had been eventful. _A sugar day _, his father would have teased.__

__The sight of Henry trying to push very different pieces of the set together made Phryne smile - he looked like an observant child, but unable to strategize exactly how to fix the problem. He was, after all, three._ _

__"I don't think I like this flavor," Phryne interrupted, seeing the child become wound up in the frustrating task. She licked her ice cream and made a face when he glanced over at her. "I can't believe I let you talk me into strawberry."_ _

__Henry's eyes widened: "I'll eat it."_ _

__Then Phryne laughed: "I'm sure you would! But your father will already have my head for feeding you ice cream before dinner as it is!"_ _

__"Daddy doesn't hurt an-y-one," Henry explained, going back to the train set. He spoke in a way that told of past mispronunciations of the word. He had learned the correct way to say some difficult words._ _

__Phryne smiled, enjoying the icy sensation on her tongue and wondering in earnest if Jack would be displeased she had spoiled his son. It wasn't like her to try and win a child's affection with ice cream, but Henry seemed so unique. There was something about the little boy that spurred her uncharacteristic behaviour._ _

__"No, I suppose you're right," she agreed. "He's a very kind man, isn't he?"_ _

__Henry nodded, smiling joyfully when a memory struck. Phryne wished she could peer inside his mind to see it._ _

__Then Henry looked up at her suddenly, somehow forgetting the trains in his little fists: "Why doesn't Mummy like you?"_ _

__Phryne chuckled, leaning back with her ice cream: "You tell me."_ _

__Surprisingly, Henry slowly padded over, distracted by a light outside the window and then focused again. He played with the tassels of her shawl as it had fallen to the floor, crouched all the way to the ground with his impressive balance. Phryne just watched him._ _

__"Why does Mummy tell you're bad?" he asked mistakenly, and Phryne cracked a large smile - so he WAS a small child after all. He had all but made her forget it._ _

__"I think your mother should be the one to talk to you about that," Phryne smiled, sitting up and patting the spot beside her to see him climb up and sit. His posture was so stiff, she wondered if Henry thought he were at a doctor's office. "You know, Henry ..."_ _

__She broke off the bottom of her ice cream cone, and offered it to him. He immediately beamed and took it. He practically inhaled it._ _

__"You're a very smart boy, and I'm very happy I've met you." Instead of watching his reaction, Phryne looked out the window thoughtfully. What DID Anna think of her? And why? Overcome with complicated thoughts, Phryne looked down to see Henry finishing the last bite of his treat. "Well? What do you say we go back to your house? Wait for your daddy there?"_ _

__Henry nodded._ _

__On the car ride over to Jack's, Phryne laughed at Henry's brimming smile. He enjoyed when she sped a little faster than necessary, windows rolled down and his soft hair whirling in the wind. He was one of the few who looked to be enjoying the speed in her passenger seat._ _

__"You like to ride around in the car?" Phryne laughed, stopping at an intersection and ruffling his short but messy hair._ _

__"I'm in space," Henry beamed, sitting back and taking it all in._ _

__"Space, hmm?" Phryne chuckled, "Why space?"_ _

__"I'm gonna be a astronaut."_ _

__Phryne found that dream very fitting for Henry, purposefully holding back her giggle of contentment. "What a wonderful idea."_ _

__At first, they spoke about the interests of space and astronauts, and then as Henry became wrapped within the idea, their conversation petered out. They drove in strangely comfortable silence to the house, where they each let themselves out and made their way toward the house._ _

__Jack had been home for almost a half an hour - leaving early to give Phryne a break from watching his son. She _had _offered to take Henry for his shift, but Jack didn't want it to be too much at once, and Henry might not have been as comfortable as he seemed with Miss Fisher - even after the talk Jack had with his son a few nights ago about Phryne and her kind heart.___ _

____Just when Jack heard the noise of a car pulling up to the house, he looked in the window and balked at what he saw. There was Henry, smiling and launching himself across the grass and back again to Phryne's side where he earned a little pat on his head only to run the lap again. Phryne was walking at her own leisure pace to the house, juggling a number of things in her arms when Jack opened the front door and just watched her stroll up._ _ _ _

____"We had ice cream," she smirked. "And he wants to be an astronaut."_ _ _ _

____"Fiiire," Henry was announcing to himself - arms out as he ran across the grass again, finally taking the steps with another jolt of sugared energy. "Daddy! I'm gonna be a astronaut."_ _ _ _

____"So I hear," Jack smiled, knowing the dream well. He reached down as Henry went to hug him, and hugged his son to his hip. Smiling dearly at him. "How was your day with Miss Fisher? I hope she didn't spoil you _too _much."___ _ _ _

______When he looked a bit serious all of the sudden, Phryne snuck in a tease: "I bought two ice creams, but then I stole Henry's and ate them both myself."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"No," Henry squealed, still feeling as though he had somehow disappointed his father, but glad for the distraction. "Daddy, I'll be good at dinner."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Good - we need to get all those vegetables in you," Jack chuckled, letting Henry off only to see him run down the hall with stomping little feet. "Go get changed, young man. I'll be in soon."_ _ _ _ _ _

______There was no answer, but quick steps sounding all the way down to the boy's room._ _ _ _ _ _

______"He has got to be the quietest boy," Phryne sighed, leaning in and kissing Jack chastely on the cheek. It all had Jack rather taken aback - it felt as if she came home to him that way every day. He blinked at the very thought of such domesticity with her of all people, and closed the door._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Had a good day with him? Hope he wasn't too much trouble."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"I think _I _was the trouble," Phryne laughed, setting down her things and collapsing into a kitchen chair made of oak with a very comfortable cushion. Jack's decorative taste always felt minimalist and yet comfortable.___ _ _ _ _ _

________When Jack sat opposite her at the table, Phryne listened to make sure Henry had gone into his room, and then spoke: "When does Anna get back?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"What?" Jack frowned. "Why?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Because I don't want to be surprised when she arrives, and I don't want her to be surprised, either. I want to talk with her."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Oh, God. That might be the worst idea you've ever had."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Jack - if we're going to be trying at a relationship again, I'm going to be spending a lot of time with your son, and Anna deserves to see that I'm not the monster she's heard about."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Nobody called you a monster, Phryne. Now you're just exaggerating."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Yes, well. You understand my point."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He most unfortunately did. "Alright, well ... I've heard she'll be another month, give or take. I still haven't spoken with Henry about it. He lives with her so much of the time, but he's done so well here with me lately. I wouldn't want everything to change for him so suddenly."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Things will change for him all his life, Jack. Why don't you just talk to him about it? Tell him what you're thinking."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Tell me what?" came a little voice from the sofa._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Jack and Phryne turned to the little face staring blankly at them from behind the comfortable seat. Phryne couldn't help but smile. She had hid behind her share of sofas, too._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"You know it's not polite to listen in," Jack reminded firmly only to hear Phryne trying to stifle her laughter in the palm of her hand._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________And with both sets of curious Jack-like eyes on her, Phryne burst into full-blown laughter. She slapped the table, and tried to simmer herself down when both sets of brows lifted at her behaviour._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"I'm sorry," she offered guiltily, gesturing over to the little boy: "But look at him! Look at that adorable face."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry looked confused as to what she meant, and Phryne laughed even harder. Those two faces staring at her, perplexed; it was a source of great entertainment._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________When Henry curiously stepped over, Phryne gestured toward his face and smiled in full at the boy: "You have your daddy's eyes. Has anyone ever told you that?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry nodded, smiling a little at Phryne's infectious reaction. Her smile and laugh had a way of shaking the room, he thought. He stepped a little closer subconsciously, drawn to her free way of relaxing around his father. Henry had never seen that before. People tended to give his father the distance Jack Robinson seemed to desire._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Oh, Jack - you have a very sweet boy here," Phryne smiled, folding her hands over her knees - crossing them. "And Henry - you are lucky to have such a loving father. Did you know your father and I solved a record number of cases together? That means we did a fantastic job as a team."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry just stared at her with curiosity, taking a small step closer: "At the station?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Yes, I bothered him at the station many times," Phryne laughed. "I'm sure more times than he would ever confess! Poor man."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Jack rolled his eyes. "That's an exaggeration."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Daddy? ... Did she help you get the bad guys?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Yes, Miss Fisher here was often the first one on the scene," Jack admitted kindly, making a point of the power and independence that Phryne had - that women could have it. He had always wanted his son to see that. "She was ... an asset. But she didn't work with the police. She was a private detective."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry repeated the words in his head before speaking: "Private detecsive."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Detec-tive."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Detec-tive," Henry repeated, walking over to his father, and climbing onto his lap. He wasn't often curling so closely to his father in the company of others, but Phryne gave him a comfort to do so. She was all smiles and bravery and freedom._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Yes, and do you know that Miss Fisher has a very keen eye for trouble?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry sat in awe, curious and immersed in the conversation - trying to figure out the meaning of the new word while his father spoke._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Well, she does. But she also has a soft heart, Son. So whatever your mother has told you about Miss Fisher ... I want you to remember that I don't feel that way."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Henry blinked at Phryne, and Phryne couldn't help but laugh warmly at the look on the boy's face._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"You are too adorable, Young Man."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"And still in your dirty clothes," Jack insisted, encouraging his son back toward his room. Following after him. "Off to change with you. I'll be back, Miss Fisher"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Phryne sat alone in silence at Jack's kitchen table. She remembered with a smile all the dinners they had there together in years past, and all the dinners they didn't have. Jack was a complicated man - more complicated than most of the men she indulged in - and yet Phryne found herself in love with him. Jack was worth the complications. He always had been._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________There had been a time Jack might have disappeared for a moment only to return to Phryne naked on that table, but things had changed. There was a child involved, and Phryne knew just how significantly that would change moments between her and Jack. How would she feel about that when she and Jack grew serious again? IF they grew serious again. But the rush of possibility caught her all the same and she blushed. She gently dragged her fingers over the wooden table she had fantasized about for years, and let herself smile at the thought of Jack becoming impatient with her clothes again. He had perfected the most handsome way of taking her on that very table. Phryne calmed her breathing and relaxed in her chair, thinking what on earth she would do with the desire that had built up for so long. Jack Robinson wasn't an easy man by any means, and with a child Phryne figured that would only further complicate things. But she wanted Jack Robinson, and Phryne had never been the type to let a little thing like circumstances get in the way of desire._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Soon, Inspector," she whispered to herself, eyeing Jack's empty chair with a glimmer of excited hope in her eyes. She only looked up when Jack was walking back with those crisp white sleeves rolled up his arms._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Sorry to keep you waiting."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Phryne bit her cheek to keep from grinning: "You ... Jack Robinson ... are worth the wait."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Phryne discuss - over the course of two evenings - how to go forward.

Once Henry had gone to bed, Phryne was doing what she thought was right, in helping to put away some of the dinner. She shook her head at her own efforts as she had never been very good at packing up food - always managing to find exactly the wrong containers for keeping leftovers. She was still finding humor with her inability to estimate the size of food portions when two arms slipped around her waist. Phryne's knees almost buckled.

"Jack ..."

"Yes, Miss Fisher?"

She was dizzy. Was Jack standing behind her? Whispering into her ear? She leaned onto the counter for support. "Jack, I ... won't be able to keep any self-control ..."

"Do you need that tonight?"

_Jesus _. Phryne took in a breath and let it out with uneven pacing. His arms were around her. He felt so perfect next to her she felt like crying. There had been so many nights she'd spent alone in London, crying herself to sleep because she missed him. She had missed him for so long that it was difficult to make herself that vulnerable to the feeling again. She loved him madly.__

__Phryne turned around to face him in order to gain the strength to have a real conversation, but the moment she looked into his eyes, she pulled herself in and planted a kiss on his lips._ _

__It wasn't exactly what she meant to do, but she found herself melting when his hands found her lower back and his lips opened to hers. He was an even better kisser than she remembered. Then her knees went weak._ _

__Jack was lifting her up in his arms before she could insist it to be silly - reminding her of his strength. Ever since needing Jack from abroad, she had gone for more slender men, and there weren't many as strong as Jack. She hadn't been lifted for a long while ..._ _

__There were no words between them as Jack walked with Phryne in his arms to his bedroom. Once inside, he closed the door as quietly as he could with his foot - walking over to the bed with such confidence, Phryne moaned with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. He certainly knew her weaknesses._ _

__"Jack ..."_ _

__When he released her onto the bed, Phryne bounced only once before Jack mounted her - pulling off his shirt and pinning her wrists to the bed. "Phryne ... I've been without you for so long ..." he was kissing her neck before she could respond. Her mouth opened instinctively - panted moans strangled as best she could at the back of her throat._ _

__"Jack ... Jack ...?"_ _

__He pulled back as she knew he would at the sound of uncertainty in her voice: "Is something wrong?" But even as he spoke, she could see that he was trembling. He was just as desperate but stronger-willed in that arena, perhaps. "Was there some ... miscommunication?"_ _

__Phryne had played footsie with him at dinner - an act she had only ever engaged in before when she wanted him. She smirked at the shameful tease, and decided to tease him again: "I ... think it's a little late for worries of miscommunications."_ _

__Jack smiled down at her, knowing her humor for what it often was - a defence mechanism._ _

__"Well let's clear them up," he started, leaned over her. Watching her sigh. It was the same sigh he had seen before, telling him she was losing that hungry desperation for the heat of his flesh. Nonetheless, he looked down at her and continued the conversation without assumptions. "We can clear things up, Phryne."_ _

__"That could take a very long time, Jack."_ _

__"I have time. We both have time, Phryne. Don't give up on things so easily. _Please _. I know I said hurtful things in the past. I'm sorry ... I just want to try again because we might surprise ourselves. Is that so impossible?"___ _

____"I'm skeptical it can work ... I mean, look at us. We're supposed to be talking things through, and we're practically making love instead."_ _ _ _

____"Oh, Dear. If you think we're making love," Jack teased with a dark humor in his eyes. "Then you haven't been mixing with the right company after all ..."_ _ _ _

____She ignored the tingles that set in at that silent promise, and sent him a look: "I mean it, Jack. We've tried to have dinner, but we haven't eaten properly. Doesn't that tell you that we send ourselves off the rails when we're together? ... I don't know how to temper that."_ _ _ _

____"I'll help you," he whispered, looking down when she did to what little space was left between their bodies. And that he was pinning her to the bed. "Alright, this isn't the best example, but I'm only human, Phryne ... and you teased me at dinner, and-"_ _ _ _

____"Jack, Dear Jack ..." she whispered, raising her hands to his thin cheeks. "I have been so awful to you. I ... I've had a lot of time to think, being away ... and I always felt that if I came back, we could do things right. I wouldn't rush you into this ... and I wouldn't let my needs control the direction of our relationship."_ _ _ _

____"I think this is the most you've ever spoken to me in bed," he teased. A tease that went ignored when Phryne took his hand and laid it seriously over her chest._ _ _ _

____"I have ... deep feelings for you, Jack."_ _ _ _

____His eyes smiled, knowing she did._ _ _ _

____"And ... I want to be around you. I want to try to build something between us again, but ... I think we should try this as friends."_ _ _ _

____When he arched a brow, Phryne actually laughed._ _ _ _

____"Alright, not friends, but I won't be able to control myself if you do this to me again ... and I mean it, Jack. I want things to go differently this time around."_ _ _ _

____"You'll stay?"_ _ _ _

____When Jack brushed her bangs off her forehead, she smiled. She reached up to plant as chaste a kiss as she could manage on his lips with Jack still lying between her legs._ _ _ _

____"I'll stay."_ _ _ _

____"That's a big promise."_ _ _ _

____"Well, I mean it."_ _ _ _

____Jack smiled, and slowly started to slip off of her: "Alright, I'll-"_ _ _ _

____"Wait," she moaned, holding his hips where they were. "I've been waiting a _loooong _time for this ... Just ... another minute ..."___ _ _ _

______"Phryne - you said we should just be friends!" he whispered incredulously, laughing at the obvious desperation on her face. "I need to get up."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Since she couldn't manage to let him go, she let him wriggle himself away, and laid in his bed, sorry her heart had taken over her libido. She had almost had him for the first time in years._ _ _ _ _ _

______That night unfortunately ended with no pleasure whatsoever, so Phryne had to fix that for herself at home. After she had driven herself back, she made her way upstairs and rubbed herself to an orgasm just remembering the way Jack had touched and held her. She wanted him. More than anything else, she knew she wanted him. It was all a matter of time. And if things finally went right, she would be able to keep him, too._ _ _ _ _ _

______In order to seriously talk, the two of them arranged a dinner on the weekend._ _ _ _ _ _

______Figuring they were safe out in public, Jack took Phryne out to dinner while Dot took Henry for the evening. Phryne had all intentions of making it a purely friendly evening, but Jack was desperate to show her that he was anything but indifferent to her charms. He could pursue her just as strongly as she had pursued him in the past - he finally had his chance to be the teaser._ _ _ _ _ _

______Jack was his usual gentlemanly self as he walked her into the restaurant and helped her to her seat, but eyes told a different story as he sat across from her at the small table._ _ _ _ _ _

______"What are your intentions tonight, Inspector?" Phryne asked with a stubborn grin that became difficult to straighten._ _ _ _ _ _

______"I want you to see that I can woo you just as easily as you wooed me way back when," Jack chuckled, seeing how different Phryne was from most women._ _ _ _ _ _

______She was so bold and brave and confident. It aroused him to no end. Jack loosened his tie when she simply smiled and looked down at her menu. He could do what she asked just like he had done years ago as per his own demand - take things slowly. He focused on his menu and then helplessly looked up at her._ _ _ _ _ _

______Why did she always look so erotic while she was reading? It couldn't have been the nights she'd read to him upon request in her post-sex voice or the times she'd taken his book from him to lay it over his abdomen while she'd taken him in her mouth. As if anyone could get any reading done in such a ludicrous situation. Jack shook his head at the seductive memories pouring in. He often halted his body's reaction to the more intimate memories he had of her - she had always been able to shock and encourage his desires._ _ _ _ _ _

______To keep those memories at bay, Jack remembered the platonic moments he had shared with Phryne: the laughing in bed while they spoke of their day, the playful competitions they had always started with one another, and the way she looked while she slept. Jack sighed, smiling at the memory down into his menu._ _ _ _ _ _

______"I can't decide," Phryne said with disappointment, trying to imagine she were out to dinner with a friend. The moment she admitted to herself that she wanted so much more, it would all be over. The tension had become so thick between them - the years apart, all that was left unsaid - that it would inevitably lead them down a very fiery trail into her bed. She cleared her throat. "What are you having?"_ _ _ _ _ _

______He was staring at her again. Phryne bit back her smile, keeping her eyes on her menu. "I don't think the menu is written on my face, Jack ..."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"I'm not interested in the menu."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Phryne closed her menu and raised a brow at him: "You're not making this easy, you know. I'm trying over here."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"So am I."_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Trying to do _what _exactly?"___ _ _ _ _ _

________"Show you that what we had was real and good, and that I'm sorry we ever let things tear us apart." Jack spoke so emotionally that Phryne suddenly felt being in the public eye was not the best decision. She tried at a real conversation, but ended up excusing herself to the rest room at the back of the restaurant where he followed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He met with her in the back hallway, whispering along the side wall of the old building - Phryne slapping his arm._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"What in the hell are you doing, saying a thing like that?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Jack sighed, but naturally guided her back to the brick wall, looking into her eyes. He wanted her to listen. Really listen._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Phryne ... We both made mistakes ... said things we shouldn't have said. So I'm just proposing ... why not try again? Why can't I court you properly? Does it _have _to be under the guise of friendly dinner that I see you for us to talk?"___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Because we have no self control," Phryne teased, though the worry was honest._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I said 'try again' - not have sex right here right now." But even as he said the words, they both shivered. Phryne shook her head, suddenly cursing her insistence on wearing pants and a blouse. When she thought of caving anyway, she reminded herself there were more important things at play. She took a deep breath and made herself forget how animalistic it always felt to have him pin her up against the wall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Jack ... the last time we let ourselves become involved ... it was so difficult. I didn't want to be chained down, and you didn't want me seeing anyone else."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Yes, well ... I think we could both find a way to compromise."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"You?" she teased cruelly, dropping her eyes to his lips when she couldn't help it any longer: "Jack Robinson? Compromise?" She wanted him to kiss her._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I have been known to compromise," he smiled, licking his lips when he noticed her staring._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Jack ..."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"So? What do you say?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I would tell you to kiss me, but you wanted to start running the show, so I thought I'd better not."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Don't make me put you over my knee, Miss Fisher."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________His whispered, scratchy tone brought her hands up to his chest for balance. She was quickly losing her confidence that things would remain platonic between them. Had things ever _been _platonic between them?___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________But when Jack leaned in to kiss her, she stopped him with the pressure of her hands. She had gasped and panicked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Immediately, he was worried: "Phryne, what's wrong?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________She tried to keep calm although her emotions were brewing: "Jack ... I love you. I've loved you for a long time now ... and I don't think I stopped loving you ... but if we start with that ... we won't last long before I have you naked in my bed. And I really don't want to dive straight in this time around."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Jack was stunned. Was Phryne asking that they take things slowly? They really had reversed roles after all. Her honesty strangely had Jack feeling very dominant and assured. One kiss, huh? That was all it would take? But he didn't tease her._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________"Jack, I ... really don't want to be the woman Ann's tried to make you believe I am. I don't want you to think of me as a monster."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________"Phryne!" he whispered, looking around to be sure no one else was listening. "Phryne, you're not an awful person. I chose just as you did to engage in ... those activities. Just like I'd _like _to be choosing it now. There's nothing wrong with that."___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"And if Henry finds out we're sleeping together?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Jack couldn't help but laugh: "Phryne, he's three. He'll have no idea what that even means. Of course I'll explain you being in my life, but I'm not explaining my plans with _you _to a three year old."___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Phryne laughed, too. "I'm sorry. I'm not ... I'm not great with kids."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Of course you are. You're great with Henry, but one step at a time. And ... if you need to take things slowly to feel good about us, of course that's what I'll do. I only wanted to tease you a little because of how mercilessly you teased me when we first started dating."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Phryne smirked: "I was awful, wasn't I?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Horrible."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Phryne took in a breath and was at once comforted by the scent of Jack. The scent she had tried recreating in her time away, much to her own embarrassment. She never could recreate it. She didn't think she really wanted to. But standing in front of him, breathing him in ... she had made up her mind._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"I don't wanna wait," she said honestly, tracing her fingers over the lapels of his evening jacket. Her eyes grew heavy at the very thought of feeling him inside her again. "I ... don't want to push you, but ... I want you, Jack. I need you to pursue me into bed ... can you do that?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Without another word, he led her through the restaurant and out through the front doors. He halted at the steps when she excitedly held onto his arm, his eyes simmering. "Did you want dinner?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"No."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________The air was thick with tension as they hurried to the car together - Phryne plucking the keys from him once they'd reached his cruiser._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"Let me drive it?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________"I want us to arrive _alive _for this," he teased, stealing the keys back when she lunged forward and tried hopping in her heels to reach the keys held above his head.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"Give! Them! To! Me!" she panted, each word punctuated with a new effort to snatch back the keys. On the fourth try, however, Jack significantly lowered his arm purposefully._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"At least some things never change," he teased, relenting to be passenger if only to watch the smile take over her face. She always looked so free when she drove._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Jack eyed the sky blue blouse she wore and thin black pants, and found himself imagining how he might undress her. He reached over to her confident frame while starting up the car, noting the shiver that took her over when his hand went to the small of her back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________He had to be somewhat entertained that he himself wore black trousers and a white button-up - placing them in similar attire. Yet how was it that Phryne always looked so entirely sensual in no matter what she wore? He was about ready to see her out of those clothes - to explore her again for the first time in years. To please her. To touch her. To make love with the delectable Miss Phryne Fisher. It had never been the same with anyone else, and he so desired to allow the playfulness and excitement take him over as it had so many times before._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"Hold onto your hat, Inspector," she teased just as she did when they were on a case together. "I need to break this cruiser in all over again."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Jack lifted his brow at the metaphor, his eyes dropping to her chest. She had always been so sensitive that his mouth watered at the very thought of licking and nibbling them again. He so admired the way she gasped and yelled with ecstasy._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________"It's been a while," Jack said over the sound of the engine as Phryne shifted the vehicle into drive, insinuating that Phryne herself might him to take things slowly that night. "You might want to be gentle with her."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Phryne shot him a daring grin, eyes full of life: "Now why would I do a boring thing like that?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________The cloud of dust that was kicked up behind them was just settling as the cruiser rounded a corner and took off down the road._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Phryne succumb to something they'd been trying to put off ...

Phryne was pulling Jack into her hotel room where they started kissing that evening. Their discussion at the romantic restaurant had fuelled something inside of them both that they thought had been long-gone. The boring browns and beiges around them faded off with the red of Phryne's lips, luring Jack to lose all inhibitions.

Kissing Phryne again with such intention was like taking up smoking again which Jack had quit in his twenties. He thought he had quit her, too.

There were no sassy remarks between them - Phryne was running her smaller hands up Jack's sides and into his jacket. She was moaning and persuading him to touch her with an arch of her back.

The door had just closed. Jack had locked it and given Phryne one specific look that asked her to do what she did best and initiate something. And there they were, caving to the intoxicating joy of giving in to the passionate flame between them.

"When ... when are you picking him up?" Phryne asked between kisses, her hands eagerly roaming up, into Jack's hair.

"Henry?" Jack whispered with confusion - unable to think with Phryne having just excitedly wrapped her legs around his waist. "I ... I don't know," he slurred, pinning Phryne's back to the wall. Moving his hands hungrily up from her knees.

"Do-we-have ... Uhh ... all ... night?" Phryne whimpered, feeling Jack's heavenly fingers between her legs. She laughed at the incredulousness of that feeling she'd so missed. He was touching. Her Jack was touching her again.

"Phryne ..."

After gasping and pulling him impossibly closer, Phryne started to shake. It was too fantastic - he knew her body so well.

"Bed," Jack mumbled against her chest, open-mouth kissing what cleavage her dress afforded. He hurried over to the large bed in the middle of her suite and threw her down on it.

"Wait!" she giggled, despite her frame of mind. "My device!"

Jack smirked back at her, climbing over her body. Many nights in their past, Phryne had begged him not to touch her for fear that she would no longer remember about inserting the very important device. Jack had always teased her about it- often bringing her to climax with his hands first just to prove he would keep the control for both of them.

"Jack! ... Please! ..."

The sound of her pleading with him again had him growing harder, leaning down on top of that beautiful vision in red. He flexed his back under her excited hands and grinned down at her: "Please what, Miss Fisher ...?"

"Kiss me ..."

"Are you sure that's what you were worried about ...?"

But as her hands smoothed around his hip and ghosted over her erection, Jack buried his head in her hair. She was always so talented with her hands. She always knew just how to please him. How to drive him wild.

What was once their weakness was something they both were willing to embrace for at least one very long night.

When Phryne went to undo his pants, however, Jack reluctantly stopped her.

"Phryne ... not yet. Your device ... remember?"

Phryne licked her lips and started shimmying herself lower against the bed - completely confusing Jack for only a few moments. Was she taking him in her mouth? Jack's eyes rolled back on hands-and-knees, praying he had the strength to pull away from her before he hurt her somehow. "Phryne ..."

It took about one minute for Phryne to flip them, sucking Jack off with humming moans. She had thought of doing just that for so long, it seemed like a fantasy. Jack was always such a mess when she took him in her mouth.

Phryne had to grin into her task. Jack always went on as if she was the only one who lost her mind when they were together. _Oh, if that new constable could see Jack now_ Phryne thought to herself with a wicked smirk, using her hands.

"Oh God ... I ... I can't-Uh ..."

"You won't last ...?" she teased, stroking him a few more times before backing off the bed. "Well, I'd better leave you then ..."

"No," he groaned, picking his head up to see her heading into another part of the suite. "Phryne?!"

"Patience, Inspector!" she giggled, sashaying her way into the washroom.

_Oh right ... family planning_ , Jack thought with a large sigh, falling back onto the bed. That feeling of her lips ... it wasn't long before he was touching himself, flat on his back in her bed with his pants down around his knees. He could hardly help it. She'd teased him so horribly!

Phryne leaned in the doorway of the bedroom area, just watching that beautiful, desperate man touching himself. Jack was always such an exquisite lay - she smirked at that thought. He would have hated thinking about things in that way, but sometimes sex was sex. And damn, he was good. Even the way he touched himself was pleasing. Those large, patient hands ...

When Phryne could no longer simply watch, she spoke.

"Looks like you have things under control in here ... maybe I should leave you to yourself ..."

Jack immediately looked up to her with a fire in his eyes, and all Phryne could do to keep herself from melting was to climb into bed with him.

"It's been a long time," Jack rasped, immediately positioning her to straddle his hips. "Tell me what you want ..."

Phryne gladly sank onto him, simply exhaling at the unspeakable pleasure. "... This ... Oh, Jack ..."

"Mmm ..." he whimpered helplessly, uncharacteristically.

"Yes," Phryne started, her voice cracking at the feel of him filling her again. She hadn't taken many lovers in all of her time away - he felt larger than she remembered.

Was she tighter than he remembered? Jack could have sworn it, forcing himself to start slowly so as not to hurt her. Not that she wasn't prepared for him ...

Phryne bounced over him - those incredible hands of his guiding her every move with a strong hold of her hips. She braced her hands on his legs, arching at the feel of him. It couldn't have always been that good? She leaned further back and felt the tingles shoot up her spine - yes, that was the spot.

When he pulled her down to drape over him, she slipped her hand between them and had his eyes rolling back.

"You like that ...?"

Yup, she was the only woman who seemed to enjoy that part of his anatomy. "Phryne ... I'm ... I'm losing it ..."

"Cum for me, Jack ..." she breathed into his ear, rotating his hips as he seized up and instinctively reached his hands up to her - one cupping her breast and the other slipping over the back of her neck. He always held her so especially close when he had hit his climax. It was something Phryne had dearly missed.

After Jack relaxed somewhat, Phryne went to work undressing him and reaching for her own dress when he grabbed her wrist and guided her over him again.

"Let me ..."

"What makes you think I want to be naked?" she teased evilly, screaming with laughter when Jack rolled his naked body onto hers - pinning her playfully to the mattress.

He easily undid her dress and pulled it over her head as she giggled at his tickling. She was always so easy when she was trying to be difficult.

"Jack! What do you think you're-AHHH! Doing?!" she laughed, flailing as much as she could under the weight of him, twisting on her side to push against his chest - still laughing. "Jack, you're dead weight!"

But then he started licking her neck, and all laughter was forgotten. He slipped off the articles of her lingerie with dexterity, moaning into her ear: "I have until eleven tonight to satisfy you, Miss Fisher ... and that gives me four hours more ... Do you think that'll do ...?"

Phryne went completely breathless under the perfect assault of his hands and his mouth which were quickly trailing down to her chest.

"Jack ..."

"I thought I might make up for lost time, but I'm not sure four hours is enough ... What do you think?"

He was pulling her to the edge of the bed - he was lifting her in his arms. What had the world come to that such moments were Phryne's reality?

"Jack ..." she moaned, staring shamelessly at his lips while he carried her - both of them completely naked - to the bathroom.

"I thought a hot shower might steam some sense into you so I can tease it back out again ... What do you say?"

One hour in and Jack had showered and made a mess of Phryne all over again. They made love on the floor twice before making it to the bed - both times Jack's fingers being the star attraction. Once hour two rolled around, so did his tongue.

Hour three had Phryne in and out of consciousness, to be fair, and hour four was mostly filled with slow and romantic whisperings with hot cuddles in bed. By the time Jack was thinking he should pick up Henry from Dot's, Jack was spooning Phryne with both bodies sweaty and tired. Phryne was still panting from her latest and slowest orgasm of the night, lacing her fingers with Jack's.

"It ... hasn't been like that in a looong ... long time ..."

Jack smiled: "Not since that first month we were together, if I recall ..."

Phryne smiled, too. Warmed with the memories. She closed her eyes and snuggled her back closer to his hot, sticky chest. "This ... is so perfect. Tell me we can stay like this for a while longer ... Just ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," he agreed easily, enjoying the scent of her all around them. He had his nose in her messy hair when he felt her slowly drifting off. "I'll stay till you sleep, but then I'll have to go. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I don't know if I can sleep without you," she whispered, sounding oddly vulnerable for a woman priding herself on her constant strength.

"You've been doing it for a while now, if I recall. Or haven't you slept since I've made love to you last?"

Phryne swatted him under the sheets and Jack laughed.

"You can be a beast, you awful man," she smirked, immediately hiding it in her pillow.

"Will another hour of sex redeem me?"

"It might," Phryne chuckled, "It also might break me."

Jack laughed all the harder, slipping out from the covers to track down his clothes before hopping into the shower. He was clean and clothed again before he went over and kissed Phryne while she slept. He looked down at the vision she made, glistening from their mini-marathon.

"I'll miss you," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her one last time before heading out, just catching the little "Miss you too ..." from Phryne as he closed the door behind him.

Jack was exhausted but focused as he drove to Dorothy's place, knocking only gently on the door so as not to wake the children. Dorothy came to the door in a long, conservative nightie and a shawl, followed by Hugh who stood solidly behind her - smiling when he saw it was Jack at the door.

"Inspector ..." Hugh frowned: "Is something wrong?"

"He's here to pick up Henry," Dot yawned, keeping herself quiet. "But Inspector, he's fallen asleep in Frank's room, and it might be best if he just stayed the night. I mean, I tried calling your place - didn't you go home after dinner?"

Before Jack could be put too terribly on the spot, Dot asked Hugh to check on Agnes. Once Hugh was out of earshot, Dot's cheeks went pink and she whispered to the inspector: "Things went that well, then?"

Jack almost laughed - Dot, unfazed by that insinuation! He certainly hadn't been keeping in touch with her enough in recent years, or perhaps it was Phryne's return that had her speaking so boldly. The two of them were much like sisters, Jack had always thought.

"Uh ... things went alright," Jack smiled as politely as he could - without a hint of innuendo. "How was Henry for you?"

"He was an angel, as always," she smiled back. "And how is Miss Fisher?"

Jack was fighting a contagious blush: "I'm sure she'll tell you altogether too much about our dinner tomorrow."

"I hope it was lovely," Dot smiled.

Jack cleared his throat, trying to hide his grin with his hat. "Thank you again, Mrs. Collins, for taking care of Henry. I think it's best I be on my way ... I'll ... be by in the morning before lunch."

"Wouldn't you like to come in for some tea?" Dot whispered after him, raising her brows and shrugging at the inspector's hasty exit.

"He didn't quite seem himself," Hugh said groggily once Dot had found her way back to bed.

The more Dot imagined what it must be like to be separated from the man you love for years on end, the more Dorothy desired Hugh - the man who hadn't left her through all the ups and downs of their marriage and kids and the house. She slipped into bed with him and kissed his cheek.

"Are you too sleepy, Hugh?"

It turned out he wasn't.

It also turned out - later that night - that Phryne wasn't too tired to answer the door to her hotel room even after she'd sworn she wouldn't get up again. She was wrapped in a silk robe when she opened the door just a crack to see Jack standing there in his enticing hat and jacket. Phryne immediately threw open the door, poking her head out in search of Henry.

"What're you ... doing here?"

"Henry's staying at Dorothy's tonight," he smiled. "What do you say to staying the night at my place?"

"Why can't we stay here?" Phryne moaned, stepping up to him and wrapping her arms around him under his coat. "We can order some food up ...?"

"As appetizing as that is, I need to be home in case Dorothy calls the house again."

It turned out not to be an entirely awful idea - Phryne sleeping at his place again. It had been so long since she'd done that, and the memories at the feel of his sheets were enough to soothe her right to sleep.

The relaxing memories, however, halted early the next morning when she heard something from outside the thankfully closed bedroom - was that Dot?

"Go to your room and change," Dot's muffled voice declared, followed by quick footsteps past Jack's room and down the hall. Jack sat up with shock at the sound, and Phryne slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from drawing attention to them.

"What on earth are they doing here?" Phryne whispered as quietly as she could, looking down to their naked states and around the bed to the heaps of clothes littering the floor. "I thought you said you were picking him up before lunch?"

Jack twisted his mouth from her hand, shrugging: "I thought so, too."

And before he could slip out of bed to change, the handle of the door twisted. Phryne hid herself under the covers at the hint of their discovery, and was therefore out of sight before Henry's little head poked in the door.

"Daddy? I played with trains!"

Dot hurried over to lightly chastise the boy to go to his room and change like she asked, whispering her apologies to Jack for the intrusion when Phryne let herself out of the covers to breathe. She threw back the covers enough to show her naked shoulders - Phryne blinking that Dot was still standing there in shock. Dot's eyes went completely wide at the insinuation - no, the _reality_  - that Jack and Phryne were naked in his bed right before her very eyes. Her jaw dropped, her breathing paused.

Phryne and Jack were together again.

Dot took in a deep breath and simply closed herself out of the room - eyes still wide as she held the door shut and her hand to her chest.

Phryne and Jack were together again.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is an unexpected visitor.

While Dorothy Collins made her way back home on foot, she tried to rid herself of the image that had been seared into her mind: Jack and Phryne covered in only a sheet together. She had never imagined she might come upon the sight, especially after all of Phryne's time away, but she had to also admit to happiness for them. While the sight itself was inappropriate, the message behind it was encouraging. Maybe Jack and Phryne would work things out long-term. Dot could only hope.

Just after Dot had left the house, Phryne had quickly changed back into her clothes from the night before and checked the hallway before scurrying out. Once outside, she leaned back against the closed door and grinned with her shoes in hand - she and Jack had made love. Jack - her Jack - wanted to try to work things out.

She slipped her shoes on and walked back to the street with confidence - head held high and a big, goofy grin on her face.

Back in the house, Jack was beaming as he went to his son's room and saw Henry quietly playing with a toy Dot had lent him.

"What do you say to pancakes?"

Henry looked up to the familiar voice he loved, smiling instantly: "For lunch?"

"Sure, why not," Jack chuckled, leaning against the sturdy door frame of Henry's room. "I'm going to shower, and then I'll get it started, alright?"

"Can I put my cars in the kitchen?"

Jack loved his son's many passions, and while he would otherwise prefer not to have toy cars littering the kitchen floor, he found that he wasn't in the mood to mind. "Sure. Just be careful, and don't touch ...?"

"The stove."

"Good boy," Jack sighed, walking into the bathroom with a towel over his shoulder.

There was a playful smirk on his lips as he entered the bathroom, thinking of the night before. Jack was exhausted from the very lengthy rounds of intercourse from the night before, but happier for it. How long had it been since he'd taken a lover, he had to wonder. When he realized he couldn't remember exactly when, he laughed to himself in the hot shower - it had been too long indeed.

Jack was still rinsing his hair when he heard something muffled. Was that knocking? Maybe it was Collins from the station who couldn't reach him by phone? Flummoxed after a second knock, Jack hurriedly finished rinsing and climbed out of the shower with a towel around his waist. He was still wiping the water from his eyes when he opened the door just a crack under the assumption he would be hearing from Collins. Instead, the sight completely took him by surprise.

"Anna ..."

Anna's long blond hair was swept over her shoulder in a loose bun pinned neatly away with a conservative outfit to match. Her cardigan was buttoned to the top - in stark contrast with Jack's almost nude, wet body available from the crack in the door. Anna's eyes took in the shocking state of his undress, and quickly snapped back up to his eyes - all business again.

"John ... I uh, I was back a little early, and ... is Henry here?"

The little boy appeared as if by magic beside his father, beaming: "Mummy!"

Henry lunged in and hugged his mother's legs before she lifted him and kissed both of his cheeks.

"There's my little boy, and how have you been?"

Jack watched the sight with a smile, having momentarily forgotten his state of undress. Anna had always loved Henry so much - often spoiling him, Jack used to tease.

"And you've gotten all fat," Anna teased Henry, poking at his lean little stomach and smiling at the giggle she got in return. "My chubby little thing - has Daddy fed you nice yummy treats?"

"I had ice cream yesterday!"

Jack rolled his eyes, imagining Phryne was yet to spoil Henry with many more treats - the boy who would likely be spoiled by two very affectionate and doting women. Tremendous.

"Daddy! Mummy's home!" Henry smiled at his father, squirming to be let down as he nudged the door open even wider and hugged his father.

Jack, however, instantly became shy at flashing the whole neighbourhood with his semi-nudity. Anna took pity on Jack's shyness and asked to come in, laughing to herself when she saw the toys littering the kitchen.

"I see ... Daddy's been spoiling you," she cooed, watching Henry run off excitedly to his room to get more toys.

The moment Henry was gone, Anna's smile dropped - turning back to Jack. "So what's this I hear about _Miss Fisher_ finding my son?" She looked at once angry and devastated. "Jack ... you _lost_ him? ... How could you?!"

Jack sighed, not having expected that to be the first thing she said to him for some reason. "I suppose your source didn't also happen to tell you he'd been kidnapped."

"I just don't understand how - with a father whose job is to protect others - a boy manages to be-"

"I have a train play time," Henry interrupted obliviously, running back to the kitchen where his mother greeted him with open arms, scooping him up and kissing him on the nose. "With Frankie, Mummy."

"Have you played with Frankie? And has Auntie Dot spoiled you too then?"

"Yes," Henry smiled, let down to his feet with a little pat to his head.

"I'm going to come and see all your toys in a minute, Henry, but I have to speak with your father first, alright?"

"Okay," Henry accepted immediately, hopping down the hall to get all of his toys ready for his mother.

Anna immediately turned to Jack, frustrated that the moment she returned, he was practically naked. "John," she started, levelling her eyes evenly with his only to see that he didn't quiet appreciate being called by his formal, given name in that moment with her. "Jack ... what I don't understand is how you didn't know he was missing."

"I did know he was missing," Jack whispered - keeping his voice down for Henry's sake. "Who do you think began the investigation in the first place? Of course I knew my son was missing - what do you take me for?"

Anna took a deep breath in and let it out. She had been so angry with him since first arriving to hear the frightening news. She had wanted to scream and cry at him, but she knew it wasn't the time.

Henry was about to run out from his room when he remembered his mother had said she would come to get him. He stood instead at the opening of his door, peaking out with a sudden sadness - there stood his father deeply distraught and his mother angry. How was it starting already?  _What did Daddy do?_ Henry wondered sadly, listening to the conversation available to his ears when Anna's voice picked up.

"I don't mean to imply that you're ... not a good father," Anna said tartly, eyes piercing into his. "But Jack ... the one time I leave you with him?"

"Oh, I'm sorry - I should have known when he was going to be abducted."

"This is no time for jokes!" Anna yelled accidentally, correcting it with a call to Henry to promise she would be there shortly.

"Why must you expect impossible things from me?" Jack whispered angrily, crushed that Anna would blame everything on him so easily. "Haven't you thought for a _second_ what I've been through with all of this? ... He was gone for three days, Anna. Three _days_."

The look in Jack's eyes sent Anna's to the floor, inhaling again: "Alright, well ... I wanted to take him to see his grandmother."

"Do what you need to do."

The cold tone of voice had Anna wanting to apologize, but there was something that stopped her. Perhaps it had been the hundreds of fights they'd had before where she had made a point not to apologize for what she stubbornly felt was the right thing to say or do. She felt like she hardly even knew the man Jack Robinson had become since their divorce, and that twisted her feelings inside of her. She still cared about Jack because of Henry. Their little Henry.

"Fine," was all she said in place of everything she felt.

Once Anna turned toward the hall, Henry ran to his bed and hid under it. Anna realized they'd been heard when she let herself into her son's room, feeling awful for the little boy who had always been caught in the middle. Anna was certain if she could just get him out of there, everything would be okay. As long as Jack wasn't around, Henry wouldn't have to be reminded of his split family.

Jack, meanwhile, disappeared into his own room to change.

By the time he came out, the house was already empty. Anna had left with Henry without saying goodbye.

"Great," Jack muttered to himself, slapping his hands against his hips only to fall onto the sofa and simply stare up at the ceiling. What on earth was he going to do with Anna being back in the city?

Phryne was grinning from ear-to-ear in a bubble bath at her hotel when the phone rang late that afternoon. She let it ring, slipping a little further into the tub to remember all the parts of Jack she had nearly forgotten - his birthmark, the look on his face while he was pleasing her, the way his hands felt holding her legs open. She purred and slipped all the way into the water to fully enjoy the sensation of being submerged. She was submerged in happiness.

When there was a knock on her hotel door, she frowned and reluctantly lifted herself out of the tub to wrap a towel around herself. She walked to the front door and looked through the little hole to see it was the concierge himself.

"Yes?" she asked, opening the door widely and with no trepidation whatsoever as to who might see her in only a towel. When the man's jaw dropped, Phryne simply smiled: "Can I help you?"

"I ... I have a message from a-a Jack Robinson, and you said if he called, Miss-"

"Yes," she said seriously, her posture changing from playfulness to concern. "Is there something wrong?" Was it a murder?

"I'm not sure, Miss. I've taken down his number so you may return the call."

"Thank you," Phryne sighed, tipping the man generously before closing the door and hurrying over to the telephone. For Jack to call the front desk, something was happening - perhaps even worse than a murder mystery.

There were two rings in her ear before she heard Jack's voice on the other end.

"Jack Robinson," was answered, the voice sad and desolate.

"It's Phryne, Jack - I'm sorry I missed your call. Is everything alright?"

The sigh she heard told her it wasn't, but she waited with baited breath for his answer.

"It's Anna. She's back."

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phryne confronts Anna.

 

Phryne often ate out on the town for lunch on her own. She delighted in watching people pass her by, and observing the life exist around little cafes and delicatessens.  She usually smiled all through her lonely little meal, seated back with sunglasses affixed on her nose and a stylish hat appropriately cupping her short, black hair.

That day, however, was much different.

From the phone conversation she’d had the night before with Jack, she knew that his ex Anna was in town, and that she was angry with him. Furious about the woman who had stepped all over Jack, Phryne had snuck around finding out information about how she might meet up with the woman before bringing things in front of Jack. While he had finally agreed not to come along, he _had_ asked her not to make a scene, and she decided that she could hold to that promise. _She_ wouldn’t make a scene. She couldn’t predict what the infamous Anna would do, but she was resolute in simply introducing herself and resolving Jack of any guilt over something that clearly hadn’t been any fault of his own.

With the coming conversation sizzling in her mind, Phryne sat pin-straight with worry etched across her features and her sunglasses folded neatly on the table. If there was one thing she knew about a emotional conversation, it was best to be able to look into one another’s eyes. And Phryne Fisher had absolutely nothing to hide.

Any minute Anna would be walking past the café on her way to her favorite deli, and Phryne was perched in wait. She had a general description of the woman: petite, long blonde hair, and a short little nose just like Henry’s. Jack had added that Anna had brown eyes, but Phryne had chosen to ignore that particular description, finding herself jealous in the most inappropriate sense.

Phryne sipped at her coffee until she thought she saw the woman in question. Intent on getting it right, she set down her coffee and stood to her feet, leaning over the gate to the outdoor café to get a good look. The woman had a fitted dress and simple shoes – dressed exactly as Jack had guessed.

Quickly slipping out money to pay her tab, Phryne let herself out at the gate entrance, and stepped into the walkway to stare down Henry’s mother. Anna.

Phryne swallowed hard and walked over as Anna stopped in her place upon seeing the dark-haired woman walking her way. There was a sudden angry look that crossed the woman’s face and a flash of disbelief that Phryne saw fit to ignore.

_Not a good sign._

“Anna,” Phryne said confidently, like she said everything else, as she offered out her hand.

Anna very cautiously offered her hand as if Phryne might bite it.

“I’m Ph-”

“Phryne Fisher. I know who you are.”

Phryne sighed briskly and gestured to the walkway. “Would you like to walk and talk?”

“I’d like neither, thank you very much.”

Phryne shifted her weight onto her other foot and put her hands on her hips at the woman’s childish attitude. “I’m only here to tell you that whatever rumours you’ve heard about me are false.”

“Oh, so you _didn’t_ leave Jack with a broken heart and you _don’t_ sleep with whomever you see fit on a night-to-night basis?”

Phryne’s smile dropped: “I’m offering out an olive branch for Jack’s sake. You can take it or leave it.”

“I think I’ll take a page from your book, Miss Fisher, and flee.”

As Anna went to brush past the lady detective, Phryne moved into her path and pinned her with an angry stare. “You can’t seriously want to keep this antagonizing of a relationship with the woman who will be spending a significant amount of time with your son. How will you ignoring me help Henry any?”

“You think you’re spending time with _my_ son?” Anna balked, her voice louder. “You will go nowhere _near_ my son if I have anything to say about it.”

“You’re a monster!” Phryne scoffed back, stopping Anna from walking away again, both women looking eye-to-eye as they were both the same height, give or take an inch. “You wouldn’t take that son from his father …?”

“If he isn’t fit to care for Henry, I’ll do what’s best for my son.”

As soon as Phryne heard the phrase, she wanted to slap the woman right across the face. Instead she controlled herself, if for nothing else to prove that she _could_ , and snarled: “You take that back, this instant. That man is the best father I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh, and haven’t you just seen your lot of them!” Anna yelled back, glaring right back at Phryne. “If Jack thinks he can _lose_ my son and then give him to you to corrupt him, I’ll be damned if I just stand by.” When she went to storm away, she bumped so hard into Phryne that the dark brunette stumbled over her shoes and grabbed onto the blonde agitator on her way down.

Down they both went onto the grass by the curb, flailing limbs and all – Phryne having been tripped over and Anna having been pulled.

“I … will … _never_! … Let you … near my son!” Anna gritted out, tumbling with Phryne and pushing the other woman until she was crouched on top, seething down. “You’re the monster!”

“ME?!” Phryne gasped, bucking her hips and tumbling them over again until Anna was pinned underneath her, both of them panting. “You’re a lot dumber than Jack’s given you credit for if you truly think I’m a monster … for loving the man you gave up on.”

“… How interesting … coming from you …”

“I _never_ gave up on him … I ran from my feelings like a child … there’s a difference.”

Anna sternly stared and Phryne glared back.

They spent a long moment just looking at one another, as if sizing each other up, before one of the shop owners out front came running out to pull them off each other.

Once up on their feet, Anna took one look at Phryne’s cheek with a scratch across it and thought that perhaps she _hadn’t_ been thinking straight. Or at all. Not willing to admit as much to the woman she still felt was wildly incapable of spending any time with her son or her ex-husband, she turned on her heel and walked briskly away.

Phryne breathed out, assuring the shop owner that she was quite alright, watching after the difficult woman with great disappointment.

_Well, that didn’t go well …_

It was after Phryne went to Dot’s to get cleaned up that she then went over to see Jack at his house, figuring Anna had already been and caused yet another scene. She rapped gently at the door and looked up into Jack’s eyes, spotting confusion and worry there.

“What the hell happened to you?”

Phryne ignored the question and peered over his shoulder: “Do you have company, Jack?”

He couldn’t take his eyes off the fresh scratch, holding the door with one hand and leaning the other on the door frame. “No, what happened to you?”

“Anna happened,” Phryne sighed. “We … fought in the street, I’m afraid.”

“What?!” he scoffed, closing the door behind them and hurrying to Phryne’s side with panic written all over his face. “I said not to cause a scene, Phryne. I know it’s tempting to claw at her when she’s in one of her … states … but I asked you specifically not to do that. People talk around here.”

“Well she tripped me and we rolled about – I never intended for it to come to blows. And to my defense, I never even hit her, and _trust me_ she had it coming.”

Jack nodded, his heart racing as he looked over Phryne’s face again. “If you never hit her, then why did she scratch you?”

“I’m quite sure it was because she has great, long fingernails, and less to do with intent,” Phryne sighed, dropping herself onto Jack’s couch. “She was so angry, Jack. She was just trying to protect little Henry is all … it’s easy to see how one could get worked up on his behalf, the little angel.”

Jack sighed too and dropped into the lounge chair he’d always preferred, clasping his hands as he bent forward and looked Phryne square in the eyes. “I’m proud of you, Miss Fisher.”

The corner of Phryne’s mouth turned up, but she looked no less miserable.

“And if anything,” Jack reasoned. “She’s proved that _she’s_ the one who can’t be trusted. So now it’s my turn to talk to her about all this before it blows up in Henry’s face.”

Phryne didn’t like the sound of that, but simply harrumphed as he set to work contacting his ex for a meeting. She washed herself up and came out to see Jack dressed as he always was – handsome in a suit. She smiled and waltzed over to him, fixing the cuffs of her silk top that had seen better days.

“Detective Inspector … do be careful out there.”

Jack chuckled: “Anna and I have had our disagreements, but never like you’ve had with her. One meeting and you two draw blood.”

“Well, I controlled myself when she said some things I didn’t like about you … so if she says anything about me, Jack-”

“I don’t tolerate slander against you, Miss Fisher,” Jack said so confidently, Phryne felt weak all over.

“Is that right, Inspector …?”

Jack smiled at her with only one corner of his mouth, taking her hands in one of his and looking deeply into her eyes. If he had spoken, Phryne imagined he would have said he loved her then. It had been years since he’d said such a thing, and Phryne watched his eyes glisten with the sentiment, but she knew he wouldn’t say it then. Not with Anna still on his mind.

“I … should be off, Miss Fisher.”

Phryne sighed as he walked past her, Jack always being the controlled detective.

“Good luck, Jack!” Phryne called after him as an afterthought, watching him close the door behind himself and slip off quietly to his car. Phryne dropped herself onto his couch and then wondered if perhaps she should try to cook something in his kitchen. That was, of course, if she could do so without burning the place down.

Jack found himself gripping the steering wheel tightly in his grip on his way to meet with Anna. She had fought with Phryne physically, and actually marked the mischievous lady detective. Anna had hurt Phryne, and that angered Jack, but he was a controlled man, and he knew what he needed to do if his talk with Anna was going to be done properly. He pushed his shoulders back, cleared his throat, and imagined he was going in to a crime scene. It was unfortunately how he often had to think of his meetings with his ex-wife, but he didn’t allow the thought to bother him. Not then.

He parked just outside of Anna’s parents’ house – the only place she would agree to meet with him under the current situation – and walked up the path with the calmest exterior he could summon. The talk was about Phryne and Anna, and how Henry fit into that. It wasn’t about Jack or his feelings. Jack’s feelings never really seemed to of interest to Anna anyway.

With two quick raps on the door, it was pulled open and Anna’s mother, Abigail, answered the door with a sullen face. “… Jack. Anna’s just in the kitchen.”

As much as Anna’s parents disliked Jack for divorcing their daughter, Abigail could always tell when Jack was hurting, and she was never happy for it.

He nodded and slipped past her into the kitchen where he and Anna were quite thankfully alone.

“Where’s Henry?” Jack asked simply, taking off his hat and setting it on the counter as he took in Anna’s slumped posture by the breakfast table.

“Regardless of what that woman told you, I’m not really going to keep him from you.”

Jack tried not to be taken aback by that. Anna had insinuated she would keep Henry from Jack? Immediately Jack was impressed with Phryne’s self-restraint for not lashing out. He cleared his throat and went on: “That’s fine. Is he here?”

Anna sighed as she stirred her tea, still not looking up to her ex as she spoke: “Yes, he’s up in my room.”

Jack took the seat across from Anna and unbuttoned the vest he wore for comfort, looking idly out the window. “I never imagined things might end up this way.”

Anna looked up to see Jack staring out the window and admired him for a few long, relaxing moments. “… Me neither.”

His eyes snapped to hers before she could pull them away. “For Henry’s sake, we all need to get along, Anna, no matter how we feel.”

Taking a sip of her tea, her eyes dropped to the honey-sweet liquid and then back to Jack, looking at him from under her lashes as she always had when she wanted her way. “Jack … you can’t possibly think it’s a good idea for her to be around him. He’s … at the age of influence.”

“And?”

“And? … And? Jack, she’s a loose woman.”

Jack sat up a little straighter and the look in his eyes then made Anna ashamed of herself.

“You will not speak ill of Miss Fisher in my presence. I won’t have it. Phryne’s been through a lot in her life, and if you gave her half a chance you’d see that she’s come through it a better person. She’s a strong, independent woman and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Anna sighed: “I don’t want Henry to see her.”

“That’s not only your choice, Anna.”

The way he spoke her name always made Anna smile, but since the divorce it had made her rather sad. Noting her lonely expression, Jack went on.

“… One day you’ll be dating someone of your own, and I wouldn’t insist Henry not see _him_. It’s not right. You’re allowed to live your life, and I should be able to live mine.”

Anna slowly nodded, looking out the window with a swelling sadness Jack knew he couldn’t soothe so he didn’t try.

“I’d like us all to have dinner. Perhaps you could bring one of the members of your father’s sports clubs, if you’d prefer to make it four instead of three.”

Anna scoffed, insulted at the thought: “I don’t need father to send me an escort. I’m perfectly capable of finding my own date, thank you.”

“So? Will you meet Phryne again with me this time? … So you two can try again to make nice?”

Anna groaned and dropped her head in the palm of her left hand, slouched over: “I’m afraid I wasn’t myself this afternoon, and feeling a bit … silly, Jack. I don’t know that I can see that … _woman_ and say nothing about my feelings.”

“Your feelings?”

“She ruined our marriage, Jack.”

“… What?” he balked, sitting impossibly straighter. More alert. “How is that possible? Do you know how far she was when-”

“Not in here,” Anna interrupted, reaching across the table and resting her hand on Jack’s chest, tears brimming in her eyes for once in a very long time. She stared into Jack’s emotive eyes and her lip trembled helplessly. He was so warm, even through his layers. He always ran rather warm, and the reminder had a tear escaping down her cheek. She drew back to furiously wipe it away, staring back down at her tea.

“Anna … I’m sorry. For everything. Well … everything except Henry.”

It had been a mistake, getting pregnant, but they both loved Henry so much that they had always refused it as a mistake. More like a happy accident. She nodded at the observation.

“How does this Saturday sound?” Jack asked, knowing that Anna would need some privacy if she had become so emotional. “You can bring someone, I’ll bring Miss Fisher, and we can all get to know one another. In a … peaceful situation.”

The implication stung, but Anna nodded. “Alright.”

Before Jack left, he stopped short in the hallway and called up to his son. “Henry?”

At the tone of that voice, Jack quickly heard peppered footsteps upstairs and then a clumsy stomping of little feet down the hall until Henry was looking at him joyfully from the top of the stairs. “Daddy!”

“Come say goodbye,” Jack smiled, his arms outstretched in case his son jumped onto him from the last few steps like he’d done the last time. Sure enough, Henry made his way down near the bottom, and leapt into his father’s arms.

“Daddy!” Henry cheered quietly on his father’s shoulder as he was scooped up, beaming at his dad’s many laugh lines and pulling off his father’s familiar hat. “Can we have supper, Daddy? Mommy’s making ‘tatoes.”

Jack smiled for his son, but shook his head and took his hat back, setting Henry back down on his feet. “I’m afraid not, Kiddo. But do something for me?”

Henry grinned happily up at Jack.

“Go in there and give your mother a big hug for me, okay?”

Henry nodded and giggled when his father winked at him as he adjusted the hat and went to open the door. “I’ll see you soon, Kiddo.”

“Bye, Daddy!”

Henry’s little smile grew wider, racing off to do as his father asked, and Jack left the house with a final sigh. It hadn’t gone so badly after all. Anna could be reasoned with, just apparently not with Phryne. A smile grew on Jack’s lips with the thought that not many people _could_ reason with Phryne when the woman felt scorned, and Jack thought back to his first meeting with Phryne and how difficult she’d been at the crime scene with Constable Collins. And then he thought back to having met Anna while trying to talk the woman down from fury over an injustice down at the petition for the town library.

Jack found he most certainly had a type: feisty, intelligent females with a propensity for mischief.

At that thought, Jack wondered exactly what Phryne was doing in his house, left unsupervised. He smirked as started his car out onto the road, thinking that he didn’t mind the many mysteries presented by the infamous Miss Fisher.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I left this one for so long. A comment I just received reminded me of this tale and that there still might be interest in it, so I'm back to finish. I hope it doesn't disappoint.


End file.
